I worried that if I spoke or screamed my anger would grip both sides of my open mouth and rip me in half.”
-- Shirin (chapter 1)

Importance: While this is obviously an exaggeration, Shirin is expressing her ongoing anger at the overall situation. She is beset by racism because of her ethnicity. She moves so often she never has a chance to overcome that to make friends.

When I was a kid and would tell my mom that people at school were mean to me, she's pat me on the head and tell me stories about how she'd lived through war and an actual revolution, and when she was fifteen someone cracked open her skull in the middle of the street while her best friend was gutted like a fish so, hey, why don't you just eat your Cheerios and walk it off, you ungrateful American child. I ate my Cheerios.”
-- Shirin (2 )

Importance: This is one...