I’m dead. I thought I was bigger. Tough. But I’m just a bit of nothing. My arms are outstretched like I was trying to fly like Superman.
-- Jerome (chapter 1)

Importance: Jerome sees how insignificant his body and his life are when he is killed without a second thought on Officer Moore's part. Jerome feels small and afraid at the moment of his death. This is an interesting way to open the novel because it also sets up the journey Jerome takes to understand that his identity as a Black person may be a source of power instead of a minimizing factor.

Grandma worries the most. She has dreams. “Premonitions,” she calls them. Worries about bad things happening. But I don’t know what, where, when, or why.
-- Grandmother (chapter 3)

Importance: This quote represents the style of the novel in that the decision to jump back and forth in time around the day of Jerome's...