A nothing is no thing, a nothing is a thing with no past.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: When Lamentations first flees the settlement, she knows that she is abandoning her home, family, and community. The longer that she runs, the more of her former self and life she feels she is shedding. Although there is loss associated with her flight, Lamentations also begins to wonder if letting go of her past might be a form of liberation. The moment contributes to the author's explorations concerning both the past and the self.

It did not care, it could not care, what happened to her, not one bit.
-- Narrator (chapter 3)

Importance: Throughout Lamentations' time in the wilderness alone, she becomes increasingly aware of how desperate her circumstances are. Although she is surrounded by the natural world and all of its creatures, in this moment, she is realizing that her environs do not in fact care about her survival. This...