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Pearl
At the start of the story, Rosemary and Jack are fleeting to Utah from Florida in a desperate bid to escape her abusive, controlling lover named Roy. Roy catches up to them, though, and talks Rosemary back into a relationship. As he attempts to cement his stronghold over her, he follows her to and from work each day—often with Jack in tow—and tries to ingratiate himself to Jack by buying him gifts such as a rifle. Eventually, Rosemary decides it’s time to escape Roy once and for all, and she and Jack secretly board a bus bound for Seattle.
Roy Quotes in This Boy’s Life
The This Boy’s Life quotes below are all either spoken by Roy or refer to Roy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
Roy stored his ammunition in a metal box he kept hidden in the closet. As with everything else hidden in the apartment, I knew exactly where to find it. There was a layer of loose .22 rounds on the bottom of the box under shells of bigger caliber, dropped there by the handful the way men drop pennies on their dressers at night. I took some and put them in a hiding place of my own. With these I started loading up the rifle. Hammer cocked, a round in the chamber, finger resting lightly on the trigger, I drew a bead on whoever walked by—women pushing strollers, children, garbage collectors laughing and calling to each other, anyone—and as they passed under my window I sometimes had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in the ecstasy of my power over them, and at their absurd and innocent belief that they were safe.
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Roy Quotes in This Boy’s Life
The This Boy’s Life quotes below are all either spoken by Roy or refer to Roy. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 3
Quotes
Roy stored his ammunition in a metal box he kept hidden in the closet. As with everything else hidden in the apartment, I knew exactly where to find it. There was a layer of loose .22 rounds on the bottom of the box under shells of bigger caliber, dropped there by the handful the way men drop pennies on their dressers at night. I took some and put them in a hiding place of my own. With these I started loading up the rifle. Hammer cocked, a round in the chamber, finger resting lightly on the trigger, I drew a bead on whoever walked by—women pushing strollers, children, garbage collectors laughing and calling to each other, anyone—and as they passed under my window I sometimes had to bite my lip to keep from laughing in the ecstasy of my power over them, and at their absurd and innocent belief that they were safe.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
