How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Poor? Did I hear poor? When the dollars are literally flowing into this home from my labors? And flowing out even more rapidly."
"Don't start that again, Ignatius. I only got twenty dollars out of you this week, and I almost had to get down on my knees and beg for it. Look at all them thing-a-ma-jigs you been buying. Look at that movie camera you brung home today." (5.155-156)
Money is an ideal source of bickering, which is probably why Toole decided to start the novel off with a financial disaster in the form of the car wreck. Once you need to make installment payments, the opportunities for argument and kvetching are infinite. If you're smart, you'll take our word for it and avoid learning this lesson for yourself from experience.
Quote #5
"Personally, I would agitate quite adamantly if I suspected that anyone were attempting to help me upward toward the middle class. I would agitate against the bemused person who was attempting to help me upward that is." (5.185)
Ignatius is saying that he would not agitate to move into the middle-class the way black people are doing. This rather ignores the fact that, though the Reillys certainly aren't very well off at all, they do own their own home, which puts them a heckofa lot closer to the middle-class than someone like Burma Jones. Why doesn't Ignatius agitate to be really poor if he's so anti-middle-class? We're sure people would rob him of all his assets if he just asked them.
Quote #6
Long years of practice had made her rump an unusually versatile and dexterous thing.
Her body had always amazed her. She had received it free of charge, yet she had never bought anything that had helped her as much as that body had. […] She repaid the gift by giving it magnificent care, expert service and maintenance that was given with the emotionless precision of a mechanic. (9.103-104)
Lana sees her body as a productive input; it's part of her wealth. She treats it, from toe to rump, as investment capital, and converts it to money (via pornographic pictures or, it is suggested, prostitution) with efficiency.