How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She tried to imagine what it would be like to have worked fifteen years in Frankenberg's department store, and found she was unable to. (1.3)
When Therese meets Mrs. Robichek, she sees a potential fate for herself: working (and probably dying) at Frankenberg's. Those are the choices society gives to young women in this time period—work a dull job until you're married, or don't marry and stay there forever. Yikes.
Quote #2
"At least you're not going to make the same mistake I did, to marry because it was the thing to do when you were about twenty, among the people I knew." (7.76)
Carol probably got married in the 1940s, when it was even more expected for women to marry. Therese is living at the beginning of a new society that's starting to be more accepting of single women. But it's just starting; there's still a long way to go.