I looked at myself in the mirror and said in a whisper, ‘Chuni, Chuni, I’m wearing your rings. I will never take them off.’
-- Nomi (“Before the First Day”)

Importance: In this quotation, Nomi admires the earrings that she received from a woman who took her in after Nomi’s family was killed by soldiers. This scene helps establish Nomi’s earrings as a symbolic talisman of protection against hardship, thus correlating to Nomi’s obsession with earrings as an adult. It also helps to establish Nomi’s inner strength and the motif of small pieces of solace that help Nomi to endure the many hardships she suffers in her childhood.

He brushed an arm against her breasts. [Nomi] stepped backward and…kicked his shin and his crotch as his hands flew to his face.
-- Narration (“The First Day”)

Importance: This quotation comes from a scene on the train platform that the three old women witness from their place in...