How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
[He] fought hard against the animal smell and fought hard to regulate his breathing to hers, but the animal smell got worse and her breathing was too light and shallow for his own lungs. (4.321)
Son knows that he smells like an animal and will do almost anything to keep people from smelling it. At the end of the day, though, he even starts to feel like a primitive animal compared to the people who are living in Valerian Street's home. This feeling makes him wonder if he'll ever be able to convince Jade to be with a guy like him.
Quote #5
"You can't, you ugly barefoot baboon! Just because you're black you think you can come in here and give me orders? Sydney was right. He should have shot you on the spot. But no, a white man thought you were a human being and should be treated like one." (4.336)
Jade's best way for insulting Son is to compare him to a primitive baboon, which is unfortunately one of the slurs that white people use against black people. Jade is being racist in this moment, although we can cut her a little slack because Son is holding her by the arms and threatening to throw her out the window.
Quote #6
Treating her like another animal and both of them must have looked just like it in that room. One dog sniffing at the hindquarters of another, and the female, her back to him, not moving, but letting herself be sniffed. (4.345)
After Son grabs her and smells her hair, Jade feels ashamed. She thinks that smell is something that is attached to primitive people and animals, not civilized people like herself. But when Son reminds her that she has a smell just like everything else, she feels for a second that she might still be nothing more than an animal.