Dreams and Reality in This Boy's Life by Nicola O'Shea

Posts quotes that can be used to discuss dreams and realities across the memoir.

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:33:12 UTC

Read the notes below, which explore some of the key tensions between dreams and reality, and looks at how the structure of the memoir helps to reflect this idea.

Jack's dream of a happy, stable family

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:35:47 UTC

Toby's dream of a new identity

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:36:10 UTC

Rosemary's dream of escaping the past

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Rosemary's dream of escaping Dwight

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:36:34 UTC

Skipper's dream of restoring the 1949 Ford

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:36:51 UTC

Jack's dream of attending an elite preparatory school

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:37:16 UTC

The reality of Jack's school record and experiences

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:37:43 UTC

The reality of Jack's family life with Dwight

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:37:59 UTC

The reality of Toby's family life with the Wolff's

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:38:19 UTC

Skipper's disillusionment caused by the sandstorm damage to his car

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:38:48 UTC

Rosemary's life married to Dwight

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:39:34 UTC

Rosemary and Toby's pursuit of Uranium in Utah

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:40:55 UTC

Rosemary and Toby's experiences in Utah

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:41:29 UTC

Jack's romantic dreams regarding Norma

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:42:16 UTC

Jack's disappointment in Norma's romantic 'betrayal'

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:42:24 UTC

Jack's dream about army life

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:43:07 UTC

Jack regretting his decision to join the army/affected by his experiences in the Vietnam War

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:43:22 UTC

Arthur Gayle's dream of being accepted/concealing his homosexuality

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:44:12 UTC

What Jack realised about Arthur's 'girlfriend', Beth Mathis

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:44:33 UTC

The American Dream

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:47:31 UTC

The reality of live in 1950s America

noshea — 2016-08-15 12:47:38 UTC

Chuck's dream of a 'TV wife'

noshea — 2016-08-15 13:27:06 UTC

Chuck's experiences with Tina Flood

noshea — 2016-08-15 13:27:20 UTC

Jack's desire for war

noshea — 2016-08-15 13:27:46 UTC

Subin- Jack's disappointment in Norma's romantic betrayal

2016-08-15 23:49:38 UTC

"In the darkness of the back seat I sat rigid and mute, punching her, slapping her, calling her names"
"When I heard Ray Charles sing 'I Can't Stop Lovin you' I just had to stop and get sad for a while"

Jack's Desire for War

2016-08-15 23:52:04 UTC

"It seemed to me when i got there that this was where i had been going all along, and where I might still redeem myself. All I needed was a war."

Jake - Arthur's Dream of being accepted/hiding his homosexuality

2016-08-15 23:52:11 UTC

"Arthur was trying to be a citizen"
"I saw all this respectability as a performance"
"To fit in with them he had to hold his tongue and refrain from eccentric behaviour"
"He even had a girlfriend"
"He never talked to her or even looked at her. Instead, he stared testily into the daces he passed as if looking for signs of scepticism or amusement"
"I knew he was no citizen and he knew I was no outlaw"

Daniel:

2016-08-15 23:52:19 UTC

Trevin - Toby's dream of new identity

2016-08-15 23:52:37 UTC

'I believed that having his name would charge me with some of the strength and competence inherent in my idea of him' - (pg 7

'I represented myself to her as the owner of a Palomino horse named Smiley' - pg 11 --> shows his fantasy life

Simon- Wolff's Reflections on 'green' dreams:

2016-08-15 23:52:59 UTC

"When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights, that the world is disposed to act in our best interests, and that falling and dying are for quitters."

"We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we alone, of all the people ever born, have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever."

Connor -

2016-08-15 23:53:02 UTC

"I was subject to fits of feeling myself unworthy…. It didn't take much to bring this sensation to life, along with the certainty that everybody but my mother saw through me and did not like what they saw." Jack is confessing that he is unhappy with his current situation and wishes to change who he is, representing the reality he has to deal with.

Michael H - Jack's dream of a happy, stable family

2016-08-15 23:53:36 UTC

"I was tempted by the idea of belonging to a conventional family, and living in a house..."

"In my heart I despised the life I led in Seattle." - Jack hates his wild behaviour, and considers living in a conventional family in a new place to be the only solution.

"I imagined being adopted by different people I saw on the street." - Jack dreams of a stranger taking him in and providing the happy life that he craves

Arthur Gayle's dream of being accepted/concealing his homosexuality

2016-08-15 23:55:12 UTC

"The weakest part of his act was the girlfriend ."
"He stared testily into the faces he passed as if looking for signs of scepticism."

Adam- Jack's disappointment in Norma's romantic 'betrayal'

2016-08-15 23:55:25 UTC

"I watched them. As we drove on I kept watching them.

"I had never understood before, not really, what they had did when they were off alone together."

"I never thought she would do this to me."

Safin - Jack's disappointment in Norma's romantic 'betrayal'

2016-08-15 23:55:49 UTC

Cedric - The reality of Jack's school record and experiences

2016-08-15 23:58:24 UTC

'I sat with crossed legs and made believe that I belonged there, that these handsome old buildings, webbed with vines of actual ivy to which a few brown leaves still clung, were my home.' pg 179 <- Fantasy

'I had done well on the tests I'd taken in Seattle. But not long after my scores came in I got a rejection letter..' pg 188 <-Reality

Jack's Dream about life

2016-08-15 23:59:51 UTC

"The good life he had in mind for himself was just as conventional as the one I had in mind for myself."

Jack's dream about a conventional family

2016-08-16 00:02:37 UTC

"Unlike my mother, I was fiercely conventional"- Will

Dwight -

2016-08-16 00:06:09 UTC

My Padlet, my rules.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?!?
HUH JACK!?!
DO YOU!?!?

Toby's Dream of a New Identity

2016-08-16 00:10:06 UTC

"I was ready to do anything to get clear of Dwight."

Loc

2016-08-16 00:10:23 UTC

Jack was "tempted by the idea of belonging to a conventional family". Because Jack "despised the life [he] led in Seattle", he imagined that in Chinook, he "could be different" by introducing himself differently.

Nick

2016-08-16 07:07:28 UTC

Jack's dissatisfaction with his own life is demonstrated through the false life in the letters sent to his pen pal. Jack explained that he was "the owner of a Palomino horse who... raised German shepherds and played for several athletic teams".

Jack becomes convinced of his own lies when he forges letters of recommendation from his teachers and "the words came as easily as if someone were breathing them into my ear... I thought I was writing the truth."