The daily life into which people are born, and into which they are absorbed before they are well aware, forms chains which only one in a hundred has moral strength enough to despise, and to break when the right time comes—when an inward necessity for independent individual action arises, which is superior to all outward conventionalities.”
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: When describing the town Ruth lives in as a seamstress, the narrator asserts that it is supremely difficult to make decisions that go against the tide of the society in which one is born. This is essentially the challenge of the novel. Every character struggles to do the right thing in the face of societal pressure. Ruth succumbs to Mr. Bellingham’s seduction because she is alone, poor, and afraid. Moreover, she is ignorant and unable to understand why his proposal is wrong. She does not have the “moral strength” to refuse him...