"Contempt mates well with pity."
Willie and Lester continue to fight with one another about their outlooks during the tour. Lester holds contempt for his neighbors, judging them for being so materialistic, but Willie points out how perhaps Lester is just appealing for sympathy. He identifies with his neighbors and that's why he despises them.
"Bloody noses had made them friends, but giving sound to the bruised places in their hearts made them brothers."
Willie and Lester share a mutual acceptance of one another because they both come from abusive backgrounds. They relate to the pain the other carries because they were so young when the abuse occurred. As a result of this compatibility of experience, they share a bond strong enough to be family.
"In short, his entire life became a race against the natural -- and he was winning."
Willie is a character built by defiance. He has only pulled himself up higher since the abuse of his childhood, all while providing for his mother. He is determined to keep on achieving, an attitude which severely distances himself from his surroundings.
“In Linden Hills they could forget that the world said you spelled black with a capital nothing. Well, they were something and there was everything around them to show it. The world hadn't given them anything but the chance to fail -- and they hadn't failed, because they were in Linden Hills. They had a thousand years and a day to sit right there and forget what it meant to be black, because it meant working yourself to death just to stand still.”
Naylor explores how racism plays into the living situation at Linden Hills. The little neighborhood serves as an escape from the pressures of mainstream society which strive to oppress and dehumanize these people. Within their tiny, decrepit community there is a kind of solace that only having nothing to do can provide.
