[Dorothy] would never know exactly when it had happened – when it had stopped happening – only that she had persisted for some time idly believing that she was persisting, her body fulfilling its potential like some warehouse or shipping center. How typical of her not to know something was over when it was over.
-- Narration  (“The End of March”)

Importance: This quote, from early in the narrative, seems to be referring specifically to Dorothy's miscarriage. But because the book develops an extended metaphoric parallel between the ending associated with Dorothy's miscarriage and the ending associated with Dorothy's loss of idealism about / dreams for her academic career, this quote also becomes a symbolic reference to the ending of Dorothy's ambitions for academic / career success.

It would kill you to confront the agonies and joys pressed together in the crowd, in one signle subway car. Each person with their disappointments, their millstones, their pleasures, their loves. Each person living...
-- Narration  (“The End of March”)