How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
There he saw the stars and exchanged stares with the moon, but he could see very little of the land, which was just as well because he was gazing at the shore of an island that, three hundred years ago, had struck slaves blind the moment they saw it. (P.7)
According to local legend, the African slaves who were brought to Isle des Chevaliers back in the 1700s went totally blind when they saw the place. This could symbolize the fact that these men didn't want to witness all of the terrible things that would happen to slaves on this island for hundreds of years afterward.
Quote #2
He had been run out of Algeria and thought his door was being assaulted by local Blacks—whose teeth he would not repair. (1.24)
The local dentist is a guy who used to live in Algeria, but was kicked out when the local people rebelled and expelled all of the French colonizers. So instead of going back to France, the guy just hopped to the next French colony, Dominique, and set up shop there. You have to wonder why he keeps doing this, though, since he doesn't seem to have much trust for black people.
Quote #3
Under her long yellow dress Jadine knew there was too much hip, too much bust. The agency would laugh her out of the lobby, so why was she and everybody else in the store transfixed? The height? The skin like tar against the canary yellow dress? (2.2)
When Jade sees a tall African woman in a French grocery store, she doesn't know what to think. Everyone in the store is transfixed by the woman's beauty, yet Jade knows that there's no way this woman would ever get work with a modeling agency. The woman is just too imposing to be a model. Nonetheless, Jade knows that this woman has something that she lacks, and the though goes on to trouble her for the rest of the book.