" the civilization of years can be overthrown in almost any human being in a very few days "
You will lose yourself overtime if you leave your habitat. We are all products of our environment and once we leave our environment we become a new being. We return to being exactly what we are in this case a wild beast. The colorful language describes a scene where a woman is attempting to make her in the right direction. Then she compares her to a wild animal claiming that once you take a child out of the city and back into the wild they will lose their civil disposition and turn back into a savage. She tells that to the girl because the girl is trying to figure out how to thrive in the city. This passage connects the story so well by being one of her first its a prophecy the girls transforming and then going back to how she was before. This passage is revealing the idea that  at the end of the day we are all uncivilized and as soon as we leave civilization we will turn back into animals." She swims for a day, a year , sinks drowns dies." pg 18 New York is a struggle at first shes trying to figure out how to survive. That's what this novel has been to me so far just the main character fighting trying to figure out how she will be able to figure the city out. The two passages connect because the woman claims that even if she does figure it out she will revert to exactly who she was before she entered the city.The big issue is her survival her adaptation.