English & Literature

white teeth by Zadie smith

briefly explain the significance (for the main ideas of the work, not the plot) of what the speaker is saying in the quote below.

“It’s tails, see? It’s tails. Look. Tails. It was tails.”
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Archie suddenly remembers that he has a coin in his pocket, and decides to flip it to decide the doctor's fate. If heads is the outcome, Archie will kill him, and if tails is the outcome, Dr. Perret will live. Archie puts his gun down and accidentally tosses the coin over his shoulder. When he bends down to get it, Dr. Perret shoots him in the thigh. He grabs his gun back, saying: "For fuckssake, why did you do that? It's tails. See? It's tails. Looks. Tails. It was tails."