Being hungry was worse than being whipped – it hurt longer.”
-- Narrator (chapter 1)

Importance: Gwenda's father has told her to steal the purse that Sir Gerald is carrying, and Gwenda thinks through her options. She knows that stealing is wrong, but she is more afraid of her father's wrath and the hunger they will face if she fails to steal the money. Then Gwenda thinks about these two punishments – hunger and a whipping – and knows that hunger is worse.

Gwenda told her father everything. She had sworn on the blood of Jesus that she would keep the secret, so she was going to hell, but she was more afraid of her father than of hell.”
-- Narrator (chapter 5)

Importance: This is an example of the role that religion plays in the lives of the common people of the time. Gwenda is fully aware that breaking that oath carries serious consequences, but she is also a child who is...