Sabina's Neighborhood
Sabina is not too fond of her neighborhood: “It’s a town full of wusses, a polo-shirt army of numbnuts.” This illustrates that she does not seem to respect people who live their lives according to rules and laws, even if they are wealthy.
Crusaders
Sabina describes the women that her uncle uses to defend his case as “crusaders,” which indicates that they violently fight for his cause even though he is bound to be convicted of murder.
Olive
When Sabina is taken in by her guitar teacher Lou, she notices that his wife Olive looks dreadful. By describing her eyes as “still” and “glossy,” she indicates that the woman is more dead than alive, which she emphasizes by saying that she “floats around the house like a spirit.”
Lou's Place
Sabina is surprised by how quiet Lou’s place is, as she compares it to a monastery: “I won’t sleep tonight even though [Lou’s] building is a monastery compared to my place down in the valley of nightclubs and fire stations.” By using the word “valley” she also conveys a sense of confinement.
Vida
Sabina describes Vida as a woman who “always had those same skittish eyes, like a stray cat who knows it’s about to be chased off.” This illustrates that Vida does not seem to have settled in the U.S., and indeed gives away her dark past where she was kept in a brothel as a sex slave, as she seems to find it hard to fully commit to people.
