A man, a waiter, looking at you … not seeing you. Not seeing who you really are. Not until you started to deal with him. And the deftness with which you did that. You made him see that gap. Between what he was assuming about you and what you really are.
-- Emily (Scene 1 paragraph Page 7)

Importance: Emily describes the racism-defined incident that inspired her to do a sketch of Amir based on a famous portrait of a slave. It establishes the everyday racism that Amir arguably encounters, and is the first of several incidents in the play that define its thematic exploration of racism.

You know how much easier things are for me since I changed my name? It’s in the Quran. It says you can hide your religion if you have to.
-- Abe (Scene 1 paragraph Page 13)

Importance: This line is rich with significance: the irony of a young Muslim man, justifying the concealing of his identity by quoting the...