Wringer

"He did not want to be a wringer. This was one of the first things he had learned about himself. He could not have said exactly when he learned it, but it was very early. And more than early, it was deep inside. In the stomach, like hunger."

This quote is significant because from the start we know what Palmer doesn't want to do.... his emphasis foreshdows the trouble he will face in following his own heart.

"New birthday. New friends. New feelings of excitement and pride and belonging. His mother was wrong about the guys never playing with him. He had had a lot to overcome, that was all. Being the youngest, the shortest. And his unusual first name, he took lots of teasing there. But that was all over now. He fell back on his bed, he grinned at the ceiling. Life was good."

This quote is significant because we can feel Palmer's excitement in having friends, in addition to the loneliness he has suffered thus far. It also exposes Palmer's natural instincts to hold onto these new friends at the expense of everything else.