The patron saint of this story is St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), because it all sort of started with a robbery and the first saintish thing he ever did was a robbery. He stole some cloth from his father and gave it to the poor.
-- Damian (Chapter 1 paragraph 3)

Importance: Here, Damian sets the stage for the novel in two ways. First, he explains that a robbery serves as the genesis for the story and foreshadows that a byproduct of the robbery will be something good in relation to the poor. Second, Damian also introduces the reader to his near-obsessive interest in saints, which has important roots.

Personally, I think, so what? Money’s just a thing and things change. That’s what I’ve found.
-- Damian (Chapter 2 paragraph 10)

Importance: Damian’s contention that money comes and goes like many other things in life should not be dismissed by the reader as a sense of maturity about Damian. Damian...