… ten is when we learn how to be good girls and real boys. Ten is when children begin to hide who they are in order to become what the world expects them to be. Right around ten is when we begin to internalize our formal taming. Ten is when the world sat me down, told me to be quiet, and pointed toward my cages.”
-- The Author (Part One, “caged - sparks”)

Importance: This quote is taken from the chapter in which the author initiates her book-long consideration of how psychological, emotional, and spiritual cages are formed around the identities of children, cages that she claims imprisons children within expectation and rules that deny them true freedom. A substantial portion of the rest of the book is taken up with deepening the examination of this core idea, and with looking at ways in which people can dismantle those cages and come to connect with that freedom.

I spent sixteen...
-- The Author (Part One, “caged - tick marks”)