Don't try to manage the affairs of others and don't take an interest in other people's business.
-- Mrs. MacMillan (The Old Man with No Name)

Importance: Almost immediately after the narrator of "The Old Man with No Name" moves onto Fess Avenue, his landlady gives him the above instructions. She has noticed his interest in the lives and activities of their neighbors, and warns him against getting involved. Despite her admonitions, the narrator proceeds to do exactly what Mrs. MacMillan tells him not to do. Instead of minding his own business, he devotes all of his energy not only to observing his neighbors, but to controlling them. Mrs. MacMillan's words foreshadow the ways in which the narrator's nosiness will lead to violence and crime. At the same time, her words contribute to the author's overarching notions regarding loneliness, relationships, and voyeurism.

I wasn't a phony, he'd said.
-- Narrator (Joshua Karabish)

Importance: After learning of his former roommate Joshua Karabish's death, the narrator of...