Because her father taught her that white folks can turn on you at any moment. She fears for her life in O’Connor’s because she believes that the unexpected scrape of a chair across the floor or a voice’s sudden intensity contains the potentiality of a fight.
-- Lila Mae (DOWN PART 1)

Importance: This quote demonstrates that Lila Mae’s extreme discomfort in social situations, particularly among the other inspectors, goes far beyond natural introversion and has roots in physical fear of racial violence. This fear extends not only from Lila Mae’s personal history and experiences of racism, but from the greater structural and ingrained racism that exists throughout the city. Thus, the quote demonstrates the intersection of personally experienced and systematically present racism in impacting the daily life of Lila Mae.

The dread of imperfection. We do not need cities and buildings; it is the fear of the dark which compels us...
-- Lila Mae (DOWN PART 1)