How would you like to come work in town, Laura?
-- Pa (Surprise paragraph 1)

Importance: Early in the novel, Pa gives Laura the chance to come and work in town. For much of her life, Laura has been committed to her family on the family’s homestead. Pa’s relaying of an offer to work in town signals a series of big changes that are going to come in Laura’s life through the course of the novel. The first such change is Laura’s decision to begin working in town as well as on the homestead, rather than just on the homestead.

She knew how good it would be to stay at home again, to help with the housework and do the chores and work in the garden, to go walking with Mary and gather wild flowers, and to look forward to Pa’s homecoming at night. But somehow she felt cast out, and...
-- Narrator (Nine Dollars paragraph 6)