There was a colored boy in our pool. A colored boy. And I touched him, my skin on his skin.”
-- Sunny (chapter 2)

Importance: This is Sunny's thought right after she touched the boy in the pool. This is the first time the reader will realize the social situation of this time period. Young readers who did not live through that time may have trouble understanding Sunny's shocked attitude. The social situations of the 1960s is one of the novel's themes.

White girl say to Ma'am, 'It's awfully nice of you to cook me supper this late, Mrs. Bullis.'”
-- Raymond (chapter 5)

Importance: Raymond has just come home from swimming in the pool to discover that Jo Ellen is going to spend the summer with them. Raymond is shocked when Jo Ellen uses the title “Mrs.” because it would not have been typical for whites to refer to blacks with that level of respect.

I never used...
-- Sunny (chapter 9)