I does meet all kind of people. Learn all kind of words. Live all kinds of lives. Thank God for books.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: At the start of the novel, one of the only ways Allie can escape her hostile reality in the present is by reading. In books, Allie not only finds comfort, but a form of transportation. She is able to depart her abusive domestic situation, and disappear into safer, fictional worlds. These lines therefore introduce the author's explorations concerning entrapment and escape.

Nobody doesn't ask, 'Why he don't stop beating you?
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: After the Christmas holiday, Allie surprises herself by telling her coworker about Leo's abuse for the first time. Although she wants a friend, she is disappointed by Tamika's response, in that she has heard others ask why she does not leave Leo before. In this moment, she is wondering why the blame and onus is often put on...