She locks the door behind her and calls out to her parents. Of course there is no answer. The child does not appear surprised. She knows that something unprecedented, terrible, and irreversible has happened and that her parents are not likely to answer. At the same time, she believes the opposite: that her parents are nearby and will soon come to her aid. This is, after all, the only arrangement she knows.”
-- Observer (chapter 1)

Importance: The young girl's drastically changed world and her unwillingness to accept those changes serves to impress upon the reader the emotional impact of the moment.

Her explorations have given him pause-many times he has stood, interrupted midsentence, staring at her dazedly, his forehead creased as though with concern-but she isn’t sure if this is because he’s worried about her safety or just surprised and alarmed to realize that she is there, that she exists, that he...
-- Karl (chapter 2)