Despite her posing, as though for Life magazine, with her new white goods, the truth is that Katherine O'Dell was, at forty-five, finished. Professionally, sexually. In those days, when a woman hit thirty she went home and shut the door.
-- Norah (chapter 1)

Importance: This comment from Norah exhibits the realities and pressures of Katherine's career. Katherine's refusal to retire from it all emphasizes the fact that she has no other life to return to, and her entire identity has been absorbed into her career.

I much preferred our winter quarters in the basement kitchen, where we were more private.
-- Norah (chapter 3)

Importance: Norah prefers the basement kitchen because it allows her to spend time with her mother alone. This is opposed to the upstairs of the house, where there are constant visitors for whom Katherine must assume her public persona. In the basement, however, Katherine is free from this social pressure, and Norah is able to...