… [Nell] could see the expression on his face just from the way he was standing with his back arched and his heels slightly lifted. He would be compensating for his wrinkled clothing and his odd profession with a hard masculine glare. He would allow himself a small smile only if he himself had made the joke.
-- Narration (Chapter 1 paragraph Page 5)

Importance: This quote from early in the narrative comments on just how thoroughly Nell knows her husband, and on another level, illustrates the masculine power perspective that defines both his character and the narrative's thematic interest in gender roles and relations.

[Nell] tried not to think about the villages they were passing … all the people she was missing, the tribes she would never know and words she would never hear, the worry that they might right now be passing the one people she was meant to study, a people whose genius she would unlock, and...
-- Narration (Chapter 1 paragraph Page 8)