"My heart begins to suffocate me. It keeps rising until I can taste it. I can almost feel it beating on my tongue. I tremble, pull myself together, then tremble again."
-This quote is talking about the scene where Ed witnesses a woman being raped but can't do anything. This is kind of where Ed realizes what he just got himself in to. He isn't quite ready for this situation so he just walks away. The significance of this quote is to show how unready Ed is and how these playing cards are more serious than Ed ever thought.
"In the first hour of play, I look at Audrey and know that I'm in nervous love with her. Nervous because I don't know what to do sometimes. I don't know what to say. What can I tell her when I feel the hunger rise in me? How would she react?"
-This quote was used to contrast Ed's fear types. There was the fear he felt when we witnessed the rape on Edgar Street, and there is the fear of being in love with someone. This shows the complexity of being a human because it is the same emotion felt in a different way for a different reason.
"You're a dead man. I hear his voice again, and I see the words on my face when I get back in the cab in the rear view mirror. It makes me think of my life, my nonexistent accomplishments and my overall abilities in incompetence. A dead man, I think. He's not far wrong."
-In this quote, Ed is basically saying how in the grand scheme of things, he is nonexistent. He has an attitude that he is insignificant. This feeling of insignificance is why this quote is so important. It's a bit ironic that he is so 'insignificant' yet was picked to do this crazy job, which makes such a huge impact on people's lives.
Summary Ed Kennedy a taxi driver, his best friend Marv, his crush Audrey, and his close friend Richie, are all held up in a bank robbery. Poor execution and clumsiness on part of the robber allows Ed to capture the robber and Ed becomes a local hero. A couple days later, Ed receives a mysterious playing card that has 3 addresses on them. Ed dismisses it at first but his curiosity leads him to go to the 3 addresses to understand the meaning of the card. At the first house Ed discovers a drunken man repeatedly raping his wife while his daughter watches. Ed in cowardice ignores the house and goes to the second address where he finds a lonely old woman. Ed approaches and the old lady mistakes Ed for her long lost husband. Ed plays along and keeps the old woman company often. Ed then goes to the 3rd address where he finds a teenage girl running barefoot in the park. Ed ends up finding that the girl is a track runner and doesn't run well with shoes on as it constrains her. Ed buys her a shoe box that has nothing in it. At the next meet the girl runs barefoot and although she loses, she is a lot more happy with her sport. Finally Ed returns to the first house discovering that nothing has changed. The following night, Ed picks the man up from the pub offering him a free ride and a drink. The man later passes out and Ed takes him to the edge of town. When the man wakes up Ed takes the man to the edge of a cliff and makes the man repent of what he does. This part ends with Ed pulling the trigger.
Analysis Because this book is split into many short stories I believe that this part of the book contains all of the parts of a book without a resolution. When Ed receives the card is the Exposition. When Ed finally confronts the first house is the climax and then there is no resolution. The book is written in first person and we only see things through Ed's eyes. Because of the severe differences in the characters in the book, the story would be different if we read the book from a different perspective. The author does a spectacular job in describing people. Ed is the family loser as all of his siblings live in the main part of the city while Ed still lives in the rural part of the town in a shack. He is skinny and not very good with girls. He also lives with his old Dog which has a distinct smell to it that makes others cringe. This is how I pictured them through the imagery presented by the author.