This is old thinking in a new time, and I must change.
-- Moshe (Part I: Gone (1-5))

Importance: This quote, which Moshe utters upon watching the circumstances of life in Chicken Hill change drastically over a short period, is significant because it lays out Moshe's worldview about American culture: that it is ever-shifting and demands commensurate adjustments of its contributors. This anxiety about the swift pace of change throughout history is fundamental to the novel's thematic backbone, and its contrast with Chona's reverence for preservation and sustainable community-building is a central back-and-forth in the novel's early stages.

Who is the cripple? The one who worships a thing? Or the one who worships something higher?
-- Chona (Part I: Gone (1-5))

Importance: Chona's sharp rebuttal to Moshe's cruel (and ableist) insult to her is significant both to Chona's character and to the novel's themes at large. For Chona, it makes clear the ways in which her Jewish faith allows her to transcend the discrimination...