How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #19
"They're my birthmark," I said. "I yam what I am!" (13.33)
This is the first time the narrator is willing to embrace Southern food in New York, marking an important step towards uncovering his full and complex identity.
Quote #20
What and how much had I lost by trying to do only what was expected of me instead of what I myself had wished to do? What a waste, what a senseless waste!…I would have to weigh many things carefully before deciding and there would be some things that would cause quite a bit of trouble, simply because I had never formed a personal attitude toward so much. I had accepted the accepted attitudes and it had made life seem simple… (13.37)
Here, the narrator admits his long-time passivity towards his life. He had once been content to merely follow societal dictates, but this quote indicates that he recognizes the need to develop his own opinions.
Quote #21
"You must realize immediately that much of our work is opposed. Our discipline demands therefore that we talk to no one and that we avoid situations in which information might be given away unwittingly. So you must put aside your past. (14.120)
Notice the rhetoric of rebirth? This suggests that a new identity soon will be fashioned for the narrator.