How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
She walked out of the lobby, with her silver bracelets tinkling, swaying a little on her high heels, as if she had not too long ago learned to walk on them, and went with her beautiful body away, for which Roy everlastingly fried Bump Baily in the deep fat of his abomination. (3.87)
The fact that Bump is Memo's boyfriend drives Roy nuts. The image of Memo, with her jewelry and her sexy walk, is contrasted with the downright hatred that it inspires in Roy. Instead of making him happy to see her, it only makes him curse Bump. It's great how this sentence plunges from words like "tinkling," swaying," and "beautiful" all the way down to a hilariously violent image.
Quote #5
Though Roy denied wishing Bump's fate on him or having been in any way involved in it, he continued to be unwillingly concerned with him even after his death. He was conscious that he was filling Bump's shoes, [. . .] because the crowds made no attempt to separate his identity from Bump's. (4.16)
Nothing like getting rid of your enemy only to have everyone confuse you with him. Poor Roy just can't shake Bump. He gets what he wished for: Memo is all his now that Bump's out of the way. The problem is that Roy's obsession with Bump seems to be stronger than his feelings for Memo, so he's still bugged by Bump even after he dies.
Quote #6
Taking her arm he said, "Memo, I don't know what more I can do to show you how sorry I am about that time and tell you how I feel in my heart for you now."
But Memo stared at him through a veil of tears and said, "I am strictly a dead man's girl." (4.25-26)
Memo isn't giving up on Bump anytime soon, which makes it hard for Roy to shake his jealousy. Her declaration that she is a dead man's girl just lays the cards on the table, and shows that Roy, too, in a weird way, is a dead man's guy. He's in competition with someone who's no longer in the race. How can you win?