Maybe mine was not a blissful girlhood. But is anyone's? Even people whose parents are happily married to each other and no one else, even these people have their share of unhappiness. They spend plenty of time nursing old slights, rehashing squabbles. So you see, I have something in common with the whole world.
-- Dana (narration) (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote comes from the opening pages of the novel, as Dana is explaining the arrangement of her peculiar family situation to the reader. In this passage, Dana is emphasizing a theme that will resurface throughout her life, and her mother Gwendolyn's life: they do not feel pity for themselves because of their family situation, but rather continue pressing forward. This resolve will be shown in Dana even before she gets to high school: even though she is not allowed to do the after-school science program, because Chaurisse is already enrolled in the program, she nonetheless...