Still, the nurses kept up their work, massaging the bag of blood, fighting off the collapse of his [Eden’s] veins as if the transfused red and white cells were a squad of workmen desperately joining the rafters of a house ready to fall in on itself.
-- Narrator (chapter 2 paragraph 1)

Importance: As the novel opens, the Humvee explosion has left Eden extremely close to death. His wounds are extensive, and the care needed for his survival is comprehensive. His body is collapsing into itself, and it becomes a miracle of medicine and care that he even survives the trip back to Texas. This miracle becomes a pervading question throughout the novel, as the narrator, characters and readers question the reason for his continued pain.

It’s not pleasant to say or to think on, but up until that Christmas the parts if Eden his wife and doctors obsessed over weren’t much.
-- Narrator (chapter 4 paragraph 1)

Importance: The narrator...