Like all women, I had once been expert at negotiating the balance between the demands of courtesy and the demands of expectation.
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: When the narrator first meets up with Xavier, she is compelled to reflect on her behaviors and what they convey. Her internal monologue in this scene captures how women in American society are forced to perform their femininity according to gender stereotypes. In the narrative present, the narrator wonders if she has lost her ability to balance her own impulses with others' expectations of her. The moment contributes to the novel's explorations of expectation and social pressure.

But had it only been that? Hadn't there also been some underlying curiosity, an old instinct to draw close to other people?
-- Narrator (chapter 2)

Importance: In this scene, the narrator questions her intentions behind agreeing to meet up with Xavier. The passage has an interrogative mood, which enacts the narrator's internal search for understanding...