How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[Mrs. Glover's] strapping son was a straightforward George. "Tiller of the soil, from the Greek," […] and George was indeed a plowman on the nearby Ettringham Hall estate farm, as if they very naming of him had formed his destiny. Not that Mrs. Glover was much given to thinking about destiny. Or Greeks, for that matter. (4.51)
If a person's name defines them, we worry about celebrity children like Pilot Inspektor and Moxie Crimefighter. Actually, on second thought, those kids sound kind of awesome.
Quote #2
Motherhood was [Sylvie's] responsibility, her destiny. It was, lacking anything else (and what else could there be?), her life. (6.47)
If Sylvie sees herself as a mother by fate, why isn't she a better one? She lets Maurice run wild, for instance, and she disparages Ursula's lack of morals (in her opinion) in the timeline where Ursula gets raped. For someone who defines herself as a mother, Sylvie isn't very nurturing.
Quote #3
How on earth had [the parcel] got here? There were no trains running and Pamela was almost certainly snowed in. Even more puzzling was how her sister had managed to dig up this wintry harvest when Earth stood hard as iron. (18.8)
This is a good question: How does Pammy's parcel get all the way from Fox Corner to Kensington? Could it have been delivered by the hand of fate?