How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
When my mother married my father, he was an old man and she a young woman. This suited them both. She had someone who would leave her alone yet not cause her to lose face in front of other women; he had someone who would take care of him in his dotage (3.33).
This marriage sounds about as romantic as a bank transaction. Lucy's parents' arrangement shows that marriage can sometimes have very little to do with love.
Quote #5
Mariah did not know that Lewis was not in love with her anymore. It was not the sort of thing she could imagine (3.34).
Um, it's kind of scary to think you can be married to someone and have absolutely no clue what's really going on in their head (or heart).
Quote #6
A strange calm had come over Mariah and Lewis's apartment. They quarreled constantly but never in my presence. I would return to the apartment after running an errand with the children in tow, and I could smell the disagreement in the air (4.29).
Lucy's description of disagreement as a smell, or something that pervades the atmosphere, is a clever way of signaling just how much Mariah and Lewis's marital problems end up affecting everyone around them despite their efforts to contain their quarreling.