Quan watched a movie about this big ship that hit an iceberg and sunk, and there was this one scene where the main lady was being tied into this thing that went around her stomach and laced up the back like a sneaker. He later learned it was called a corset, but that’s what comes into Quan’s head when he thinks about his life.
-- Quan ("Snapshot: Two Boys on a Brand-New Playground (2010)")

Importance: Quan compares his life at home with his mother and abusive stepfather and compares the feeling to being physically confined. This quote is important because it demonstrates the physical toll violence takes on the body of young children who experience it first or second-hand

That night he got arrested turned everything upside down. I knew things were about to get bad because my dad had been like the duct tape holding our raggedy shit together. He paid for a lot and gave my mom...
-- Quan (Chapter One: "Doomed")