Content Warning: This section quotes anti-gay slurs from the text.

“When I peered through the chain-link fence, across the expanse of half-barren concrete, at the rusting hulls of the great gray navy vessels, I was perplexed. The place looked big enough, sure. But where was the castle? Where were Mickey and Goofy and Pluto?”

Mike remembers the disappointment he felt at five when his father tricked him into believing he had taken him to Disneyland. Instead, his father had taken him to an old Navy shipyard. Mike sarcastically refers to his father as the “World’s Greatest Dad” (4). His father, who abandons the family when Mike is 11, impacts Mike’s problems with self-esteem and confidence, which he must overcome to achieve his dreams. In the above quote, Jonathan Evison varies the rhythm of his prose with long and shorter sentences and rhetorical questions.

“I read at least two books a week, sometimes as many as four. Call it self-improvement. You see, old Mike Muñoz would like to figure out who the hell he actually is, what he’d actually like to do with his life.”

Reading is a big part of Mike’s journey of self-discovery. He often chooses books that portray underdog characters fighting against powerful, selfish forces because he can relate to their struggles. Evison’s conversational, casual writing style is evident in the above quote: “You see, old Mike Muñoz would like to figure out who the hell he actually is.”

“And maybe I’d tell little Mike to start by looking outside himself instead of within the murky, undefined recesses of his heart. In my experience, a kid doesn’t gain much through introspection. A kid gets more by throwing a ball or wrestling with a dog […]”

This passage suggests the book’s philosophy, that people discover themselves and their talents by interacting with others and experiencing life, not through introspection. In the story, even bad jobs and lousy bosses help Mike on his journey. At the end of the story, Mike expresses his gratitude to the deeply flawed characters who helped him achieve his dream, even keeping some of those flawed individuals as friends, such as Nick.