How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Helen knew Garp was thinking up a story to tell Walt after dinner. She knew Garp did this to calm himself whenever he was worried about the children—as if the act of imagining a good story for children was a way to keep children safe forever. (10.27)
Garp sure is good at imagining stuff. But it's true: The same wild imagination that fuels his novels also fuels his paranoid fantasies.
Quote #5
Garp thought himself to be psychologically unfit for parenthood. Then he worried about that, too, and felt all the more anxious for his children. What if their most dangerous enemy turned out to be him? (10.170)
Garp realizes, on some level, that his anxiety isn't beneficial for the family. This idea will come to fruition in the themes of The World According to Bensenhaver.
Quote #6
One sign that he hadn't been writing enough, Garp knew, was when he had too much imagination left over for other things. For example, the onslaught of dreams: Garp now dreamed only of horrors happening to his children. (13.5)
By writing, Garp can safely release the internal pressure of his overactive brain. But what happens if that safety valve stops working altogether?