Quote 1
"This reminds me of a Harlem night," I said. "Sometimes the little apartment we lived in would be so hot you couldn't sleep for days." (12.35)
Perry probably has more he can relate to in Vietnam than someone like Lobel does, just because Perry grew up poor and had less modern luxuries than the richer guys in the army. It's one of those silver lining kind of things.
Quote 2
"My mother's a Baptist," I said. "She wouldn't go to a mojo lady."
"My mama's a Baptist, too, but she what you call a sore-feet Baptist. Your feets get sore enough, those mojo ladies start looking pretty good." (5.15-16)
Who doesn't need a foot rub from time to time, mojo or no mojo? Peewee's point is that your beliefs get more flexible depending on your need, and it actually applies to Perry. The more scared he gets in the book, the more he relies on religion for comfort. Too bad he didn't have a mojo lady nearby.
Quote 3
"You pray a lot when you in the World?" I asked him.
"Yeah, I prayed a lot," Brew said. "But, man, I didn't pray nowhere near as hard." (8.113-114)
Brew was always religious, but coming close to death definitely made him value his life more, and pray harder in response. Maybe Peewee wasn't around to tell him a joke.