It’s for the best, darling, in the end she was never really one of us.
-- Protagonist (chapter 1)

Importance: This quotation is a hypothetical sentence imagined by the protagonist as what her mother-in-law Isabella would say if the protagonist and Christopher became divorced. This hypothetical quotation serves establishes the relationships between the protagonist and Isabella as somewhat distant and unaffectionate. This relationship is subverted by the end of the novel when Isabella maintains a relationship with the protagonist after Christopher’s death and even insists on giving the protagonist a large sum of Christopher’s money.

I had decided to ask Christopher for a divorce but…I had not looked at him and spoken the words. It was important, this act of enunciation.
-- Protagonist (chapter 2)

Importance: This quotation places great formal importance upon the act of asking Christopher for a divorce. Despite the fact that the protagonist and Christopher are already separated, the protagonist feels that...