For a moment, there was the scream of tires and the mad chime of broken glass, the soft petals of white lilies, and a clod of dirt breaking apart in Feyi’s hand, but she brushed it all aside like smoke.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: In this quotation, the narration describes Feyi’s memories and state of mind as she approaches a handsome man (Milan) at a party before deciding to have sex with him. The vivid imagery of tires and broken glass refers to a car accident that killed Feyi’s husband Jonah, a subject that has not yet been explained in detail. It serves to illustrate that Feyi is haunted by memories that she is attempting to escape. By juxtaposing concepts of softness (the “soft petals” of lilies, the dirt) with sharpness and violence (the broken glass), Emezi embodies the contradictions inherent in Feyi’s internal world, and shows how these contradictions...