How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
Vivian had met and married a dark-skinned boy while attending Xavier University in New Orleans. She had not told her people about the wedding, because she knew that they would be opposed to it. [. . .] Her family had nothing to say to her husband and hardly anything to say to her. (15.30)
Vivian has light skin, and even though she is in love with a darker dude, she anticipates her own family's prejudice and doesn't make an effort to overcome it. In a way, her hiding her marriage from her family made it that much easier for them to pre-judge her husband, and probably made their lives together a real drag.
Quote #5
Of the three of them at the jail, I figured he was the most likely to be honest with me. He was nearer my age, and he seemed better educated than the chief deputy or the sheriff. And I had heard from people in the quarter who knew his people that he had come from pretty good stock. (17.2)
And so that we can see that prejudice can go both ways: Grant sizes up his three options at the court house and, based on age, perceived intelligence, and family reputation, chooses whom he will trust. Luckily he chooses correctly; Paul is a stand-up guy. However, we can see here the way that prejudices help everyone in Bayonne navigate social relations.
Quote #6
"You go'n buy that?"
I looked around at the short, stout, powdered-faced white woman.
"Yes, ma'am." Her face changed, but only a little. (22.89-92)
Whoa, racial profiling. This shopkeeper is doubting Grant's purchasing power because he's a black man. This is a double dose of prejudice: the prejudice against black people and the prejudice against poor people. It's gross, and it's unfortunately still happening today.