This structure I've articulated reminds me of another comment from a teacher on the ways to create a "successful" story. "For a story to work," he says, "the reader must have a sense of why the 'good' ones get away, what is wrong, even if Marilyn doesn't get it. Without telling, this must underscore the events, so we can understand what's going on."

Show, don't tell, he is advising, use the privileged position of the narrator to indicate the ironies of Marilyn's life about which she stays unaware.

Unaware?

Hell, she works all the time. She has no life, a legal drone who decided somewhere after her third sexual experience no one was going to tell her what do, control her because of her gender. Such a conclusion occasions the greatest irony of all: she is only told what to do, working for the greater glory of the senior partners. The irony is not entirely lost on Marilyn. Her drive for career carries her on.