How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I heard that you lost a lot in the crash."
"I did," and he added grimly, "but I lost everything I wanted in the boom."
"Selling short."
"Something like that." (5.4-7)
Short selling is a risky stock market move in which the buyer sells a stock before he buys it. The idea is to sell it for more than he buys it, but if the price rises instead of falling he loses money. Charlie "short sold" his family in the sense that he under-valued it; he didn't recognize the worth of his wife and daughter until it was too late.
Quote #8
He would come back some day; they couldn't make him pay forever. (5.17)
These are two loaded statements at the end of the story. Charlie wonders what he owes the waiter for his tab, but he's also wondering how much more he has to pay before he's redeemed himself from past mistakes. This is also a relevant statement in the context of what's going on in America at the time. Fitzgerald saw the crash as a punishment for the wasteful extravagance of the 1920s. How long will Americans have to pay for their mistakes?