The girls shown ‘like the watches did in the darkroom,’ as though they themselves were timepieces, counting down the seconds as they passed.”
-- Narrator (chapter 3 paragraph 5-1)

Importance: This comparison between dial-painters and timepieces foreshadows that the women’s lives would become ticking time bombs. Once the women were diagnosed with radium poisoning, many only had years, or even months, to live. The word “down” emphasizes this, suggesting that the women were about to experience a steep descent into illness and eventually their demise. The shining watch faces became a part of the women, not just symbolically through friendship and work experience, but also quite literally. When they ingested the paint, they themselves became radioactive like the radium on the watches.

For although Irene's dentists may not have crossed paths with Knef, the dial-painters’ friendships were a stronger network.”
-- Narrator (chapter 7 paragraph 6-1)

Importance: Here, the narrator makes the distinction between networks that should be in touch and that are...