And then our mom got sick, sicker than a person should ever be allowed to get. I was twelve when she got her diagnosis and I was furious.
-- narrator (Chapter One: The Beginning of the End paragraph 16)

Importance: In this quote, Ava describes her mother’s illness. It was her mother’s illness and death that marked the beginning of the end of Swamplandia!

It was only after Swamplandia!’ s fall that time folded into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an ending. If you’re short on time, that would be the two-word version of our story: we fell.
-- Narrator (Chapter One: The Beginning of the End paragraph 17)

Importance: Ava lets her reader know that there was more than just her mother’s illness and death that contributed to the fall of Swamplandia! She also indicates that looking back on what happened, the events that led to the fall had a natural progression but could be shortened to the idea that they family and its amusement park...