What had appealed to me about academia was that it seemed like a place where I could be blissfully free of trends, where one settled into a subject and never left".
-- Narrator (Chapter 1 `)

Importance: At the outset of The Cloisters, Hays utilizes this quotation to introduce her thematic inspection of academia and obsession. Ann had gravitated toward academia because it allowed her to ignore the world around her and fixate on a singular subject matter. While this obsessive behavior allowed her to escape from her frustrations in Walla Walla, it also leads her to ignore Rachel’s treachery later in the novel. The obsessive study of scholarly texts becomes a means of dissociation from conflict when Ann is unwilling to face the events and people in her life.

Don't you know? Girls like Rachel Mondray get whatever they ask for".
-- Leo (Chapter 4)

Importance: In Chapter 4, the author enacts this moment to further her thematic inspection of...