How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #1
He was close to exhaustion, he knew, almost too tired to know how much pain he was in. […] Swallowing down the taste of defeat, Alex folded the map and forced himself on. (5.3)
Alex's perseverance is put to the test at boot camp. Never in his life has he been so close to failing, and never has he worked so hard to keep it from happening.
Quote #2
He took part in an unarmed combat class and was knocked to the ground so often that it took all his nerve to persuade himself to get up again. (5.20)
There's an old expression—it's not whether you get knocked down, but whether you get back up again. Well, we're pretty sure it wasn't meant literally, but that's certainly the case here.
Quote #3
Alex thought he would never get to the end, but the second time he finished it in twenty-five minutes, which he had cut to seventeen minutes by the end of the week. (5.21)
It doesn't take long for Alex to start reaping the benefits to his dedication. This fourteen-year-old boy is now only a few minutes behind full grown men.