The only thing I've learned from this crazy course of events is that no matter how much we try to believe David beat Goliath, the reality is that the big guy always wins. Even if the big guy is actually a five-foot-three, flamboyantly dressed land developer with stupendously gelled hair. My little slingshot didn't even bruise his forehead.
-- Arturo Zamora (narration) ("Note To Self")

Importance: This passage, from the brief introduction to the novel, establishes the idea, proposed in the title, that the novel is about the character's personal failures. This passage also demonstrates Arturo's typically nervous and pessimistic way of thinking and talking. This passage also provides foreshadowing for the reader to know that, when we meet the apparently benign real estate developer at first, he is in fact the antagonist of the novel. Arturo's positioning of the real estate developer as "Goliath" contributes to the novel's theme of gentrification.

We presented our proposal to expand...
-- Cari (chapter 5)