Umi says I was born with an old, old soul.
-- Amal (chapter 1)

Importance: Amal feels an intimate connection between himself and the past, a connection that will develop and come to include slavery and the entire criminal justice system. The old soul that his mother alludes to is warm and somewhat fragile for the treatment that is coming. Umi still sees Amal as her baby, a connection that becomes more painful when he goes to jail and she feels as though his life has irreparably been damaged.

An old soul can't tell you all the things you weren't supposed to do, all the things that went wrong, all the things that will make it right again.
-- Amal (chapter 2)

Importance: The outset of the novel opens with regrets for Amal as he flashes back to life before incarceration. He sees his life as a collection of wrong decisions he has made and mistakes that have amounted to...