The sickness isn’t gone. It just goes elsewhere.
-- Ada (Narration) (Part 2)

Importance: The novel treats the idea of illness in a manner that reflects surreal, yet viscerally understandable ways, rather than striving for any type of scientific or medical verisimilitude. For example, one dynamic in the novel is that an illness is a discrete, tangible object. Ada and Father do not destroy illness in the body, but rather they literally remove the illness from the body.

But we’re from The Ground.
-- Ada (Part 2)

Importance: Ada and Father are humanoid beings, but they are not technically human. They appear to have been born out of nature, but they also appear to be supernatural in various ways. For example, they have supernatural abilities that help them heal people’s illnesses. These dynamics all affect Ada and Father’s narrative and thematic functions.

The longing had come on strong.
-- Ada (Narration) (Part 2)

Importance: One of Ada’s most prominent character traits in...