I’m basically your resident fat Slytherin Rory Gilmore.
-- Leah (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote represents Leah (the main character) and her impression and characterization of herself. It is also a representation of the context of the novel, and the influences on Leah’s life. Slytherin is a house from the novel series Harry Potter, known for being evil, ambitious, and conniving. Rory Gilmore is a reference to a woman on a television series called the Gilmore Girls from the early 2000s. Rory is the daughter of a single mother who gives birth to her as a teenager, and they are extremely close, but also not very economically well off. Leah calls herself this because she also has a single mother, who gave birth to her in high school. These pop culture references give the reader a context for the novel and the influences on Leah’s life, as well as how she sees...