“[For] those few minutes, my mouth full of unfamiliar food, my eyes filled with strange sights, I existed only in the moment. I was fully present, my senses alive, my whole being open to receive the new experiences around me. I was in the only place in the world I could possibly be.”

Louisa takes in the sights and sounds of New York City as she eats breakfast at a local diner on one of her first days there. The setting is an important aspect of the story, and New York is constantly painted as a place that is alive, thriving, and presents unlimited opportunities for new experiences.

“The rich do not live like you and me, Miss Louisa. And the New York rich...well, they do not live like anyone.”

Ashok tells Louisa this as he explains how the Gopniks do not personally do any grocery shopping. It serves to emphasize that not only are the upper class ensconced in a world that is far removed from a regular person’s reality, but the New York elite are a unique class by themselves.

“It was as if I were simply human armour—a portable barrier between Agnes and the rest of the world.”

Louisa describes how she feels on the job when accompanying Agnes out on her errands. In an instance of foreshadowing, this is exactly how Agnes later consciously uses Louisa in the book when she has her help Agnes run her affairs in secret as well as take the fall for her when Mr. Gopnik discovers the missing money from his account.