Dr Chance
Sara rhetorically asks why her daughter’s doctor is called Harrison Chance instead of H. Victor (Victory). This literary method is used to show that the doctors in this story are “called” at least to hive a chance to their patients, but not to treat them fully anyway.
Dr Chance and Kate
Sara vividly describes her first visit to a doctor with Kate: "Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald." He is tall and rail-thin, with snapping blue eyes magnified by thick glasses, and a tightly set mouth. He catches Kate's makeshift balloon in one hand and frowns at it. "Well, I can see there's already a problem." Is this coldhearted man the one who will lead us through this war, our general, our white knight? Before we can even backpedal with explanations, Dr. Chance takes a Sharpie marker and draws a face on the latex, complete with a set of wire-rimmed glasses to match his own. "There," he says, and with a smile that changes him, he hands it back to Kate.” Here the reader sees both Sara’s meticulousness concerning her daughter’s illness – she notices every detail which is connected with the hospital, with Kate, with the doctors. Therewith the author shows that her worrying is in vain.
Laundromats
Anna vividly describes her thoughts about the Laundromats: “Is there any place on earth that smells better than a Laundromat? It's like a rainy Sunday when you don't have to get out from under your covers, or like lying back on the grass your father's just mowed—comfort food for your nose.” This shows how sensitively Anna perceives such tiny details in her life, and therewith the author shows that, maybe, in such way the girl wants to divert from sullen everyday life.
