Quote 1
I was glad nobody wanted to cut off my hands. Because Jesus made me white, I reckon they wouldn't. (2.2.29)
As young as five, Ruth May learned about white privilege. But, oops: the Prices quickly learn they're not immune. In the Congo, it's not the color of your skin, but where you are, that has consequences. Ruth May finds herself in the same place as a snake, and the consequence is death.
Quote 2
If I die I will disappear and I know where I'll come back. I'll be right up there in the tree, same color, same everything. I will look down on you. But you won't see me. (3.12.8)
This Congolese "superstition" isn't much different than the idea of a Christian heaven. Ruth May believes she'll end up above (in a tree instead of the sky, but same diff), where she'll be able to watch everyone without being seen. Sounds almost the same to us.
Quote 3
Being dead is not worse than being alive. It is different, though. You could say the view is larger. (7.1.7)
Once she's dead, Ruth May can see everything: past, present, and future. (We can hardly see our iPhone screen without glasses these days, speaking of old age and death.) She's now part of the life force that the Congolese believe inhabits everything with the potential for life, whether it is presently dead or alive.
Quote 4
For a long time I thought Mama was saying [the Jeune Mou-Pro] were the Jimmy Crow, a name I knew from home. (2.2.3)
Young Ruth May gets a lot of political issues mixed up, confusing the African communist group with America's assortment of racist laws. Could these two groups possibly be different, or do they have anything in common?
Quote 5
The ceiling light was a clear glass bowl half full of [...] dead bugs. I know why. They like to come up to the light because it is so, so pretty like something they want, and then they get trapped in there. (2.2.46)
This is a pretty deep metaphor about the Congo's motivations for allying with the motivations, and the consequences of the alliance. They want what Americans have—everything—but diving into it headfirst has fatal consequences.