Had she ever loved anyone?
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Shortly after realizing she has never loved her first husband, Alan, Annie begins wondering if she is capable of loving anyone at all. This consideration amplifies her fear that she is cold and detached, not only in her relationships, but in her artwork as well. This concern plagues Annie throughout her life. She particularly feels it again throughout Sarah's growing up. Because she does not know how to relate to or help her daughter, she again worries that she also does not know how to love. By the end of the novel, however, Annie ultimately discovers that she is capable of understanding and expressing her deepest emotions.

It had been another part of Graham's transformation.
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: Before Graham dies, the narrator inhabits his psyche. Obsessively thinking about his affair with Rosemary, Graham cannot help but compare the relationship to those with Annie and Frieda. After Frieda...