How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Linda's smile is sad, ragged, and somehow beautiful, the aching smile of the long-suffering. "You learn not to think about what might have been, and to appreciate what you have." (8.33)
Judd is not the only one who feels dissatisfaction about his life. Imagine that! It's almost like he's not the only one whose life didn't turn out the way he expected. (But don't try telling him that. He's still wallowing in his own ego.)
Quote #5
I shake my head. "It's just hard to see people from your past when your present is so cataclysmically f***ed. Horry nods sagely. "Welcome to my world." (8.92-93)
Horry knows a thing or two about dissatisfaction. One minute, he was a good-looking kid with a pretty girlfriend and his whole life ahead of him. The next, he was homebound and living with epilepsy, not even able to move out of his parents' house. So maybe Judd should stop feeling so sorry for himself, hm?
Quote #6
The point is, I have this fake leg clamped to my thigh [...] And when I remember that I'm an amputee, I experience this moment of abject horror when I realize that when I get home I will have to take off the leg to go to sleep and I can't remember ever having done that before. (10.1)
Judd's dream about an amputated leg is a way for him to process being separated from Jen. He can't remember how he lost it and, with one leg, he feels like there's nowhere for him to go. Gee, it's nice when your subconscious uses such straightforward symbols.