I'll do something that will shake the lot of them, and though I have no idea yet what it might be, it will be big.
-- Ada ("Miss Ada Concannon Is Banished to the Scullery")

Importance: This is what Ada thinks to herself in the beginning of the novel, unsatisfied with her current life in Ireland. It sets the tone of her spirited character and also hints at a change that is to come in her life circumstances.

She is called 'Miss Ada Concannon'...Now, Emily of the Words," does that not charm you greatly? Concannon! Such a name. And, Miss Concannon tells me, she is from a small Dublin downland called 'Tigoora.' Tigoora!
-- Mr. Dickinson ("Miss Emily's Father Pleases Her")

Importance: This is how Mr. Dickinson introduces Ada to his daughter. It indicates the foreignness of the Irish to the Americans of the era, and also the view that Emily immediately had of her little maid as whimsically enchanting because of it. It furthermore demonstrates how Emily...