The story is over just as it's begun.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Vesta says this about the note she finds in the woods. She thinks Blake's message might be the discarded false start to a bad story. The line speaks to the overall novelistic construction, and the author's subtextual commentary on the process of writing a narrative. By beginning with this meta commentary on the writing process, Moshfegh subverts reader's expectations of how a plot should unfold.

My mind needed a smaller world to roam.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Vesta says this of her decision to move to Levant. She thinks living in the small boring town will help tame her boundless imagination, and keep her present in reality. However, Vesta's perpetual restlessness widens Levant's containment. Not even this isolated wooded setting can keep her imagination quiet.

But was anything really done by accident?
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: Vesta asks this of the store owner Henry's alleged hunting accident. Unable to understand...