Will this be the summary of my life at its end?
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: At the novel's start, Rose is confronted with a pivotal decision. Luke confronts her about not taking her prenatal vitamins, exasperated that he has seemingly married the only woman who is disinterested in having a child. In this moment, Rose realizes that her lack of a maternal instinct threatens to define her. In the chapters that follow, she perpetually returns to this fight, desperate to revise her response, and thus her resulting version of self.

The cost, I see now, is him.
-- Narrator (chapter 3)

Importance: In this iteration of Rose and Luke's fight over the prenatal vitamins, Rose suddenly understands that if she does not give Luke the baby he wants, she risks losing him. This moment reveals Rose's fear of being alone, and losing the one person with whom she understands herself. If she does not submit to Luke's desires to...