He's cried for his mother, then, for his two sisters. His boyhood best friend, Keith Chen, whom he hadn't talked to in years. His job. His city—the real one—with its velocabs and duple buses, its efficient elevated tramways that looked so much like this short set of track.
-- Vikram (chapter 1)

Importance: When they first got together, Vikram and Hel used to ride the subway for hours at a time, "disconsolate with grief and loss" (11). Vikram cried about everything he had left behind, while Hel never cried. This quote serves to highlight this contrast between the two characters, that Vikram was more in touch with his emotions than Hel was, as well as how Vikram has changed. In the years since, Hel later notes, Vikram has stopped talking about his former job, his former interests, his loved ones. She takes this as evidence that he is repressing his feelings just as much...