I may have nothing, I may be homeless and starving, but at least I’m not him” (11).
-- other children shipped to America (Raining Stars (1902))

Importance: This look by the other children, who have all grown up in poverty, demonstrates prejudice against mixed-race children, and an obsession towards "racial purity." Even among these children, who have lost their families and are going to share the experience of being shipped to America, a hierarchy forms, degrading Ernest and lowering his sense of self. Ernest's early experience of racism heightens his sense of racial difference in his encounters with others.

We all have things we don’t talk about… [e]ven though, more often than not, those are the things that make us who we are" (28).
-- Ernest (Juju Reporting (1962))

Importance: Ernest's preoccupation with the "things we don't talk about" foregrounds his own revisiting of his memories as he writes his autobiography. This quote also highlights one of Ford's main goals in writing this novel: recovering...