...a part of Susan Lori began to see all men as invaders.
-- Narrator/Susan (chapter 2)

Importance: After Susan's father Daniel kills her mother Linda, Susan struggles with intimacy throughout her life and over the course of the novel. This particular quote exists within Susan's memoir, a moment where Susan describes her experience waiting to see her father up north. Though Susan has understood much of her value through her beauty, the attention she receives from men, as she waits to finally lay eyes upon the man who killed her mother, she starts to understand all men as a threat. This revelation resounds throughout the remainder of the novel, as Susan unburies her old failed intimacies, and works to stabilize her marriage with Bobby.

Nothing's predetermined. There are no harmonic rules. Look, life's one big fucking mess, Susan. To shape it too much is a lie.
-- Bobby (chapter 2)

Importance: Bobby's description of free jazz acts as a lens...