A long time ago, the papers in his boxes and those in her suitcase were speaking to each other.
-- Narrator (Prologue)

Importance: In the prologue of the novel, the author uses Hans's death as the inciting event of the narrative. In the immediate wake of Hans's passing, Katharina receives two boxes stuffed with mementos from Hans's past and his affair with Katharina. Katharina is reluctant to open the boxes, because she has a suitcase filled with similar items. These two containers, therefore, are symbolic of the past. They once communicated with one another, as the narrator notes in this quotation, in that they coexisted and attempted to capture the same era in time. The moment is significant in that it addresses the narrative form and the author's explorations regarding the past.

All these things are thought on this evening, and all together they make up a many-faceted truth.
-- Narrator (Box I: Chapter 2)

Importance: When Katharina and Hans meet...