Now she stands apart and I must reach for her . . .
-- Narrator (I)

Importance: In the opening scene of the novel, the narrator watches her husband play with her daughter. These observations beget the narrator's reflections on motherhood and her daughter's future. The quotation therefore creates a throughway into the author's overarching explorations concerning identity, the past, loss, and love. Although she cares for her daughter and longs to be close to her, in this moment she is also coming to understand her need to let her daughter go.

I lay, still and confined, rerouted from that easy future which I had assumed would be my right.
-- Narrator (I)

Importance: When the narrator's mother gets sick, she assumes responsibility for her care. In this passage, the narrator is describing the evenings she spends at her mother's house during this period. Her mother's illness indeed portends her mother's death. As a result, the narrator is compelled to reflect...