How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
(I have dreams, unpleasant dreams, that relate, I think, to my wanting to speak at a company convention, and they are always dreams that involve bitter frustration and humiliation and insurmountable difficulty in getting from one location to another.) (2.50)
Slocum wants nothing more than to speak at the company convention, and Green always prevents him from doing this. This is seemingly one of his worst fears come true, that of being humiliated by another person of higher rank.
Quote #2
I don't like to lose touch with consciousness entirely. Dreams, even very bad, weird dreams, are my only contact with reality when I sleep; I want them; I even welcome headaches at night; I am out of existence. Where am I, then, when I am not? (4.75)
Slocum does not sleep well, but he welcomes dreams, even the bad ones. He questions what happens to him when he is not conscious, or when he is not feeling himself. Where does he go? Where has he been? Who watches over him when he is gone to make sure that he gets back?
Quote #3
And I also feel that some of my other dreams may be heterosexual, and I do know why. I am chasing and pumping away with girls in those dreams and almost get there, almost get all the way in, but never do. I never even come. They always break off unfinished. Is it my mother? Nude and cooperative? And know also that much of my waking life is composed of defenses against behavior I am not aware of and would find difficult to justify. Why do I feel like crying so often and why do I refuse to let myself do so…ever? (5.59)
Slocum's dreams and nightmares haunt his waking life, and he hopes that none of the inhibitions that he bottles up inside of him ever come out. He worries that if the real Slocum ever got out, he may say and do things to embarrass himself.