How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
You know, just a tick of the clock ago they were teenagers, free and wild. […] Now they come into Mr. Leon's wearing their salesman outfits. (9.4)
It never occurs to Sutter that the guys shopping at his store might be happy about getting a job and growing up, that they might even look forward to assuming adult responsibilities. He projects his own views onto everyone else.
Quote #2
I guess it's different once you get out in the world and you don't have the same experiences every day like you do in school, but these folks don't have any inside jokes or old stories or theories about how the universe works or anything. (14.8)
Well, that's true. But when you put it like that, inside jokes and theories about how the universe works don't seem like much to base a friendship on, anyway. Sutter can't see that there might be other ways of making friends and other priorities in adult life. Typical, typical.
Quote #3
"Like when you're a little kid. Everything is a sparkling wonder." "Oh yeah." I take a long pull on the martini. "Childhood was a fantastic country to live in." (23.22-23)
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Here's Sutter talking like childhood was soooo long ago and he's all sophisticated with his martini, but come on: if you're not willing to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, you don't get to have the privileges, too.