Quote 1
You have to let go of your children. David. You can't watch over Lucy for ever. (16.43)
In many ways, Bev knows Lucy better than David does. More than that, in moments of advice-giving like this one, we get the impression that she plays both a surrogate mother to Lucy and a surrogate wife to David.
Quote 2
"You don't understand, you weren't there," says Bev Shaw. Well, she is mistaken. Lucy's intuition is right after all: he does understand; he can, if he concentrates, if he loses himself, be there, be the men inhabit them, fill them with the ghost of himself. The question is, does he have it in him to be the woman? (18.114)
There's a lot going on right here. Sure, David can picture the moment. He knows what it is like to be attacked. He knows what it is like to have sex. And, disturbingly enough, he even knows what it is like to have sex with a woman who might not want to have sex with him. He has to try, however, to really know what it is like from Lucy's perspective. He can be one of the men in the situation (which is kind of weird when you think about it, but we're not touching that one right now), but adopting a woman's perspective isn't something with which he has much experience.
Quote 3
"You can have him back afterwards," says Bev Shaw. "I will help him through, that's all." Though she tries to control her voice, he can hear the accents of defeat. The goat hears them too: he kicks against the strap, bucking and plunging, the obscene bulge quivering behind him. The woman drags the strap loose, casts it aside. Then they are gone. (10.26)
This is one of the first instances of physical suffering that we encounter in the novel, and it is also a major image of disgrace. The goat is a pity to look at; one of his testicles is full of grubs. It is doomed to die in pain and suffering, despite Bev's offer to "help him through" via lethal injection. What's interesting here is that the goat seems to know his fate just by the sound of Bev's voice.