Okay, so I sat down with the pp. 8-13 and three highlighters and a pen. I made a list of the points I might possibly be making, or need to make:

1. feeling of tedium/being closed in
2. introducing or fleshing out characters
3. setting the world.

I also listed

4. hook/tensions

but of course there aren't any of those in this part because it's boring, so that quickly dropped out of consideration.

So I highlighted the lines in pp. 8-13 according to which point they fell under, and was surprised how many did nothing at all for the story in any way whatsoever. I went back and deleted almost all those.

With all that deadwood cleared away, it hit me that a good way to organize this section might be by looking more closely at something I already have in there--and have always had in there; it's not new. And that is the idea of good girls having to be hardworking, obedient, and modest. I use those terms over and over, but I never define them in any way. It could be that needs to be done, and this is a place to do it.

Tonight I revised pp. 8-13 to show what "hardworking" means. Tomorrow--or the next day, or whenever I get time--I'll see if I can cull some later scenes and pull them up here to show what "obedient" means. Or "modest." I'm not sure. It may not work, but it's worth thinking through and experimenting with.

Now that I consider a bit more...I have a section a little further in called "Good Sons." Will have to mull all this over.