Sublime

The limits of that language—shared assumptions of class, culture, education, ethics—both focus and shrink the scope of the fiction.

This was a significant accomplishment, as the dogs could now speak of the primates without speaking of mastery.

The fact is, “exceptional Negroes” have always been a staple of an apartheid-like educational system that separates the “gifted” from the “normal,” and both from the “naughty” or “underachieving.” Sticks and stones will only break my bones, but words can lift or crush me.

was socially unaware as only a middle-class white kid in a middle-class white city can be.

attentive to the deceitful machinations of those who fancy themselves the self-appointed stewards of humanity.

and a semi-insane African grey parrot for a pet who uttered Swine at intervals, and who otherwise spoke only in profanities.