You walk differently.
-- Narrator (Pages 3 - 8)

Importance: When Charlene's new lover first tells her that he is married, she assures him that she is unbothered by their arrangement. However, in the days and weeks that follow, Charlene feels increasingly disoriented by her new role as the lover's mistress. In this passage, Charlene is attempting to describe the dissociative experience of sleeping with a married man. She suddenly feels unrecognizable to herself and thus detached from her own identity and even her own body.

That's typical.
-- Hilda (Pages 3 - 8)

Importance: Shortly after Charlene starts sleeping with the lover, she asks her coworker Hilda if she has ever had a similar sort of relationship. Rather than disparaging Charlene, Hilda is understanding. In this moment, she is authenticating the confusion that Charlene is feeling in the context of the affair, as she has had a similar experience. The moment also conveys the author's subtextual notions regarding the universality of Charlene's experience...