Lawyers and sons of lawyers. Days of youth. In the morning in stale darkness the subways shrieked.
-- Narrator

Importance: This quote appears early in the story, and shows how Frank and Alan are destined to become wealthy and successful like their fathers. But it also suggests that there is something special and memorable about their younger days working as low-level attorneys, something they will lose once they become high-powered lawyers with their own firm.

She would give herself, but it was mostly unpredictable. She would do anything her mother hadn't done and live as her mother lived, in the same kind of apartment, in the same soft chairs. Christmas and the envelopes for the doormen, the snow sweeping past the awning, her children coming home from school.
-- Narrator

Importance: Here, the narrator describes the relationship between Brenda and Frank. In describing Brenda, the narrator jumps forward in time to show how Brenda's life will...