When he is sick, every man wants his mother.
-- Narration (chapter 1)

Importance: This is the first line of the novel, and it foreshadows Zuckerman’s chronic pain as well as the importance of the death of Zuckerman’s mother in terms of the narrative. Much of the novel’s drama can be viewed as a result of Zuckerman’s grief over the death of his mother. Zuckerman is generally isolated and in pain during the novel, but he no longer has a mother to turn to for comfort, and so Zuckerman falls into a personal downward spiral.

As best he could with his aching arm, he threw the volume across the room. Absolutely not! He refused to make of his collar, or of the affliction it was designed to assuage, a metaphor for anything grandiose.
-- Narration (chapter 1)

Importance: This piece of narration follows Zuckerman’s reading of a poem entitled “The Collar” by metaphysical poet George...