The same whips that were used to beat into submission the women, children, and dogs of that arid plain.”
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote gives the first glimpse into the violent culture of the boy’s village. As the novel begins in media res, the reader must pick up on clues to situate the boy’s narrative. The “whips” are a striking, disturbing image that arrests the reader. This quote indicates that the boy has run away from a brutal society where the weak are regarded in the same light as animals. Women and children are only useful as long as they submit, and if they do not, they are subject to systemic cruelty.

Nothing, not even the hours spent underground of the teacher’s urine still sticky in his hair or the hunger which was, for the first time, pricking him hard, nothing was enough now to weaken his resolve, because the...
-- The Boy (chapter 1)