The baby emerged from Bea the color of a bruise.”
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: The first sentence of the novel immediately sets the major themes of the story in motion. Motherhood is placed front and center, for this quote describes Bea giving birth, the purest form of earthly creation. However, it is clear that motherhood is destabilized and messy. Instead of bringing new life into the world, Bea bears a dead baby who never breathes clean air, a symbol of the doomed fate of humankind and the decay of the Wilderness. The baby is bruised, like the future daughters and mothers in the Wilderness who will be forced to endure great harm and hardship.

Dying was as common as living
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: In one succinct statement, this quote, which appears after Caroline’s sudden death at River 9 sums up the terse and unemotional approach that the Community members have toward death. To them, it is a...