It often went like that with him, the terror, unexpected and sudden, slipping into rage. It was enraging to be scared all the time. Enraging and also exhausting, being perpetually alert to mortal threats that might be triggered by the crime of walking on the wrong street, looking at the wrong person, saying the wrong thing or saying the right thing with the wrong inflection. Not to mention being the wrong color, or no color, not quite white enough to pass, not dark enough to be invisible.”
-- Isadore Zeno (May 26th, 1918-Uptown)

Importance: This quote is a good summation of Isadore’s experience in New Orleans. As he is the only perspective from a person of color the readers have access to, the quote also serves to illustrate general black experience in 1918. But for Isadore, he has the unique experience of not being white enough or black enough, being stuck between two worlds

Isadore had always...
-- Isadore (May 29, 1918-The Battlefield )