The unknown is the hardest. Which might explain why we try so hard to rule our worlds. It is the only hope we have to make sense of our lives.
-- Sonya (Sonya)

Importance: Control is one of the major themes of the novels. For characters whose whole lives have been controlled by a single man and who have felt so little control over their own lives, the majority of their adulthood is shaped by seeking out anything that will give them the semblance of control in their own lives. In this instance, Sonya has created a system of rules that she believes will help her make sense of the world, and fears anything--such as relationships--that will take the control out of her hands and put her in unfamiliar territory. Sonya can't make sense of why her father treated her the way he did, so she struggles to only include things in her life...