He didn't fault God for the baby. He didn't believe in Him. Couldn't imagine Him. The numbers were too big. They dwarfed God.
-- Narrator (Chance)

Importance: Throughout the narrative, the father wrestles with feelings of guilt, shame, and remorse. At this early juncture in the novel, he resists blaming God. Because his life feels increasingly determined by chance and randomness, he is reluctant to attribute his misfortune to a deity in whom he does not believe and cannot trust. The moment introduces the father's deep feelings of shame, and his confused attempts to make sense of this plaguing emotion.

Too shameful to be this unlucky, I mean.
-- The Father (Chance)

Importance: A few months after the father and mother abort their first child, the mother gives her husband permission to write about their experience. When she suggests he write the account as nonfiction, the father cringes. He tells his wife that he feels too ashamed to confess...