How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
When the entire house was asleep he came to her room in the darkness. He was solemn and attentive as befitted the occasion. Mother shut her eyes and held her hands over her ears. Sweat from Father's chin fell on her breasts. She started. She thought: Yet I know these are the happy years. (2.1)
There is a shame attached to sex at the beginning of the novel that both Mother and Father suffer through. These might be the happy years, but she is anything but happy, instead performing what she thinks is an unfortunate duty of every wife.
Quote #2
She became accustomed to the hands of her employer. One day with two weeks' rent due she let the man have his way on a cutting table. He kissed her face and tasted the salt of her tears. (3.4)
The powerlessness of a woman in Mameh's position is what Doctorow shows here. If she refuses, she'll be fired. And when she does sleep with her employer, she loses her family. For women like Mameh, there weren't many good options.
Quote #3
Once he demanded proof of her devotion and it turned out nothing else would do but fellatio. [...] Afterwards he brushed the sawdust from the front of her skirt and gave her some bills from his money clip. (4.4)
This is foreshadowing for the later conversation between Evelyn and Emma Goldman, where she compares marriage to prostitution. Evelyn might feel humiliated, but she dries her tears with the idea of getting $200,000 for testifying at her husband's trial.