1. After pages 3-4

    "This isn't a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time." (Pages 3-4)

            -This is about being with people that you know, but you don't know their whole life story.

2. On page 19

"I didn't say it was bad, but wasn't it predictable? You need to predict without predicting. You know what I mean? When you make a film, you leave an impression on the viewers who serve as a kind of jury for your film. If you make your film predictable, they'll make up their minds about it long before it's over."

            -Sometimes things should be your instinct, so that you don't really have to think about them a lot.

3. On page 21

    "Most people in our communities are decent, hardworking citizens who pursue their own interests legally and without infringing on the rights of others. But there are also monsters in our communities--people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others."

            -There are always two sides to everything, a good side and an evil side.

4.  on page 26

    "...the laws also protect the accused, and that is the wonder and beauty of the American system of justice. ...We apply the law equally to both sides. The law that protects society all of society."

            -The law is the cop and the bad guy.  Sometimes it can be good and sometimes it can be bad.

5. On page 46

    "I hate this place. I hate this place. I can't writ it enough times to make it look the way I feel. I hate, hate, hate this place!!"

                -Here, Steve shows how much that he hates jail.

 6.on page 59

    "It's funny, but when I'm sitting in the courtroom, I don't feel like I'm involved in the case. It's like the lawyers and the judge and everybody are doing a job that involves me, but I don't have a role. It's only when I go back to the cells that I know I'm involved."

            -Steve talks about being in the courtroom and just sitting there and not being able to do anything about what is going on around him.  All he can do is listen.  When he goes back to his cell, he is in charge of himself...but only within his cell.

7. On page 78-79

    "Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You're young, you're Black, and you're on trial. What else do they need to know?"

            - There is so much racism in the world today.  There is less than there was back in the day, but it still exists today.  In this case, some of the jury members are rasist against black people and so they will more than likely charge him guilty just because of his skin color.

8. On page 89

    " 'All they can do is put me in jail,' he said. 'They can't touch my soul.' "

             -This one is self explanitory.  The worst punishment that they can give him is lifetime in prison.  They cannot give his soul a lifetime in jail.

9. On page 91

    "I think about myself so much, about what's going to happen to me and all, that I don't think about my folks that much. I know Mama loves me, but I wonder what she's thinking."

             -While in jail, Steve only thinks about what is going to happen to him.  He doesn't really even think about his family or his friends.  He is only worried about what is going to happen to him.

10. On pages 115-116

    "Seeing my dad cry like that was just so terrible. What was going on between us, me being his son and him being my dad, is pushed down and something else is moving up in its place. It's like a man looking down to see his son and seeing a monster instead."

            -Steve never expected to be in jail.  His dad never expected him to be in jail...ever.  Now, Steve hasn't talked to his dad for a long time and now they do finally talk to each other and his dad starts to cry.  It seems as if his dad is looking down upon him as if he was a monster or something to that effect.

11. On page 140

    "What did I do? I walked into a drugstore to look for some mints, and then I walked out. What was wrong with that? I didn't kill Mr. Nesbitt. . . Sunset said he committed the crime, Isn't that what being guilty is all about? You actually do something?"

            -Steve actually didn't really do anything wrong.  All that he did was walk into the store and see if any cops or people were inside of it.  Bobo even said that when Steve walked out he didn't really give them a sign.  All that he did was walk out and didn't talk to them so Bobo expected that no cops were inside of it and everything was all clear and ready to go.

12. On page 237

    " His film footage shows me what he's seeing and, to a large extent, what he's thinking. And what he sees, the humanity of it, speaks of a very deep character...It is my belief that to make an honest film, one has to be an honest person."

            -Steve's film class teacher talks about how that when Steve makes a film, he puts alot of time and effort into it.  Steve loves that class and would never lie about it.  He puts lots of blood, sweat, and tears into his films.

13. on page 261

"They are all equally guilty. The one who grabbed the cigarettes, the one who wrestled for the gun, the one who checked the place to see if the coast was clear."

                -In a murder case like this one was, anyone who helped, plan, or commit the murder is guilty.  There is just no way of getting around that.  You took somebodys life away from them and all the people that were related or friends with that person.  Murders are kind of a big deal so whoever helped with it should be guilty almost no matter what.  I think that Steve is very lucky to be pernounced inoccent with this case.  He should have had a lifetime in prison like all the other guys.  As the sang goes, ' You do the crime, You do the time.'