How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
You yelled and threw things and pounded on your locker, in anguish or joy. You hugged your teammate, or bitched him out, or punched him in the face. (12.21)
Men in this book seem to show all their emotions in the same way—by hitting something, or someone, whether they're happy or sad. (If you're feeling any emotion and you know it, punch a wall—*punch punch*.)
Quote #5
"The book has very little to do with homosexuality per se. It's more about the cult of male friendship in nineteenth-century America. Boys' clubs, whale boats, baseball teams." (27.27)
This is a little bit of a self-referential statement. Could you say the same thing about The Art of Fielding (the actual novel, not the book-within-a-book) that Pella is saying about the fictional book-within-a-book, The Sperm Squeezers?
Quote #6
If Sarah X. Pessel hadn't been a girl, Henry might have socked her in the face. (29.121)
We're not sure if we believe this, because Henry is one of the exceptions to the male-anger rule in this book. He doesn't ever fight anyone, having a tendency to turn on himself. Is that a masculine or a feminine trait?