When Marie and Simone take painting, the reader could use that as a perfect opportunity to examine their assumptions about meaning and life. They seem to believe that if they continue adventuring together on little daily quests, that their lives will continue being rich and meaningful. In other words, their lives are a portrait for why some people's lives feel meaningless—if the women had to mourn the losses of their husbands without each other for emotional support, perhaps they would not feel so interested in adventure or intimacy.
The fact that the women are intimate with each other is another interesting feature of their dynamic. Their shared suffering is so inherently intimate that since they both endured it at the same time, they are permanently bonded as friends. Their friendship endures their shared crush on Sid, the fascinating painter teacher.
When Marie encounters Elizabeth, she meets a systemic problem too. Elizabeth is falling for a psychological illusion that Marie has probably faced many times—with added psychic stress, Elizabeth is starting to fail at her responsibilities, and since her responsibilities are part of her role in her family, she feels incredible pressure to get things right, but the pressure just drives her crazy. What Elizabeth needs is a friend, we can suspect, because Marie got through those feelings by talking through them with Simone.
