Previous
Christopher Densmore
When Vowell visits the site of the critical battle at Monmouth, she brings her New Jersey-born friend Sherm along with her. Sherm, who discovered a great deal of freedom and agency through starting to write as a teenager, allows Vowell to think of independence as something that can be “personal” instead of just political.
Sherm Quotes in Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
The Lafayette in the Somewhat United States quotes below are all either spoken by Sherm or refer to Sherm . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 190-268
Quotes
“Not only was stopping at one of Springsteen’s childhood homes appropriate,” Sherm replies, “it was an important part of the day for me as a Jersey boy, since it served as a great reminder that not all important fights take place on battlefields. Some take place in tiny houses, or half-houses, whether with family members or within oneself, and involve changing your course, convincing your mother to rent you a guitar (or my father to buy me a typewriter,) and getting the hell out of that house, that town, that state. It’s a different kind of independence, personal instead of political, but one of the many things we won in that war fought over two centuries ago turned out to be the freedom of expression that led a dude from Jersey write a song like ‘Thunder Road.’”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Lafayette in the Somewhat United States LitChart as a printable PDF.
Sherm Quotes in Lafayette in the Somewhat United States
The Lafayette in the Somewhat United States quotes below are all either spoken by Sherm or refer to Sherm . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Pages 190-268
Quotes
“Not only was stopping at one of Springsteen’s childhood homes appropriate,” Sherm replies, “it was an important part of the day for me as a Jersey boy, since it served as a great reminder that not all important fights take place on battlefields. Some take place in tiny houses, or half-houses, whether with family members or within oneself, and involve changing your course, convincing your mother to rent you a guitar (or my father to buy me a typewriter,) and getting the hell out of that house, that town, that state. It’s a different kind of independence, personal instead of political, but one of the many things we won in that war fought over two centuries ago turned out to be the freedom of expression that led a dude from Jersey write a song like ‘Thunder Road.’”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
