How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"So we see that even when Fortuna spins us downward, the wheel sometimes halts for a moment and we find ourselves in a good, small cycle within the larger bad cycle. The universe, of course, is based upon the principle of the circle within the circle. At the moment, I am in an inner circle." (3.192)
Ignatius contemplates the workings of fate. If fate is random, it has little to do with justice. The vision of the universe as gears within gears, working sideways to justice, is not a bad image of the novel as a whole, where the intricate plot works away, and some people get lucky and some don't, with little relation, necessarily, to just desserts.
Quote #5
"Didn that lady say she call a po-lice if you give her trouble?"
"She got me there. " (6.10-11)
Burma Jones resignedly notes that Lana Lee, and the police, have "got" him. Many people in the novel are treated unjustly, but Jones, as an African-American, gets even less justice than most.
Quote #6
"I'm not gonna be robbed again," the old man said, spraying Ignatius with saliva. "That's all that happens to you in the hot dog trade. Hot dog vendors and gas station attendants always get it. Holdups, muggings. Nobody respects a hot dog vendor." (7.46)
Ignatius is trying to get away with eating hot dogs for free by basically stealing them. Mr. Clyde prevents this injustice by getting Ignatius to work for him—which allows Ignatius to eat even more hot dogs without paying for them. Mr. Clyde might have done better if he'd focused less on justice and more on simply cutting his losses. Incidentally, Mr. Clyde is right that no one in the book seems to respect hot dog vendors. This does seem unjust… but, like so much in the novel, there's not really any help for it.