His community. He still wanted his community to be the place where he lived, a community that contained old white women, young Muslim men, Lithuanian kids, mixed-race girls, Asian parents, Jewish taxi drivers. But it never was.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: This quote relates to the theme of racism. Joseph resents the fact that white people tend to group him along with all other black people. More than anything, Joseph wishes his identity could be based off something other than his race. He struggles to feel secure in his identity throughout the course of the novel. This quote also illustrates the power language has to influence our emotions. Joseph picks up on subtle nuances in other people’s speech and often reacts defensively as a result.

And here was the thing about Lucy: she pulled him into now… And maybe there was no future in it, but there was a present, and that’s...
-- Narrator (chapter 6)