… when Americans pray, they pray first that history will step aside and leave them alone, they pray for the deafness that comes with a comfortable life. They pray for the soothing blindness of happiness, and why not?
-- Narration (Prologue)

Importance: This quote introduces one of the novel’s sub-themes – specifically, the idea that as both a culture and as individuals within that culture, those who live in America are most content when they live in isolation from the world around them.

And then the idea behind the thing became unclear and atrophied and no matter who made it, a white man or a black man, every promise was a type of fantasy, if not an earnest lie, each hope an illusion, every sacrifice an act of unrequited love. Once again in Haiti there was no glory and too little honor and too much of God’s indifferent truth.
-- Narration (Chapter 1)

Importance: This quote sums up the...