After basic training, Tiger was deployed to the Central Highlands of Vietnam with Charlie Company of the Twelfth Regiment of the Third Brigade of the Fourth Infantry. This situation has rocked the foundation of the family.
-- Narrator (Part 1: "Both Sides Now")

Importance: A good deal of the stress in this novel is caused by Tiger’s deployment to Vietnam. The family is surprised that Tiger is drafted because he comes from a fairly prestigious family and has plans to go to college.

And then, one instant later, she’s mortified by her own obtuseness and — let’s just say it — bigotry. This woman must be Darren’s mother, the doctor.
-- Narrator (Part 1: "Born to be Wild")

Importance: Kirby is embarrassed by the way she automatically assumes that the woman who opens the door at Darren’s house is the maid because she is black. This demonstrates that even though Kirby wants things to change in regard to race relations, old habits of thinking...