I had long struggled to forget him, but just by turning a corner in the world or in my mind I could run into him, my best friend.
-- The unnamed narrator of "Black-Eyed Women" ("Black-Eyed Women")

Importance: In this quote, the narrator conveys how easily the past intrudes into her present. Specifically, the memory of her brother and her brother's tragic death constantly threatens to interrupt her present. This quote also shows that the narrator has tried, and failed, to forget him. Her strategy for dealing with this tragedy has been to try silencing it, as her mother has silenced the narrator's own tragic past, but that strategy does not work.

Ghosts don't live by our rules. Each ghost is different. Good ghosts, bad ghosts, happy ghosts, sad ghosts. Ghost of people who die when they're old, when they're young, when they're small. You think baby ghosts behave the same as grandfather ghosts.
-- The narrator's unnamed mother ("Black-Eyed Women")

Importance: In this quote, the mother is...