Indian men live wild-horse lives, running beautiful and dangerous, until some outside force – some metaphorical cowboy – breaks them.
-- Narrator

Importance: This quotation appears in the first paragraph of the story when the narrator is imagining what would have become of his uncle Hector had he stayed on the reservation. Here, the narrator suggests that the "metaphorical cowboy" is the force that intervenes in all Native American lives. This "metaphorical cowboy" will continue to haunt the rest of the story as the narrator explores the role that colonization has played in the lives of present-day Native Americans.

Everything – our worst losses and our greatest beauty – is deemed sacred and necessary.
-- Narrator

Importance: Here, the speaker explains why it is not considered shameful for him to be living on the reservation with his mother in his late forties. He notes that everything is "sacred" and "necessary," suggesting that his tribe has lost so much at the...