Bachelier said:
let a, b in D4 s.t. |b|=2 and |a|= 4
then K= {e, a2, b, a2b} is a normal subgroup in D4
but H = {e, b} is a subgroup in K however not normal.
more importantly, H is normal in K (since K is abelian, every subgroup of it is normal in it), and not normal in G.
normality isn't "transitive".
there are two (equivalent) ways of thinking of a factor group (quotient group):
1) as a homomorphic image of the original group.
2) as a group induced by partitioning by a normal subgroup.
way number 2 is what involves cosets, which are the equivalence classes under the partition. we require normality of the subgroup, so that we can multiply cosets:
NaNb = Nab for all a,b in G iff xN = Nx for all x in G.
if we try to form G/H with H some non-normal subgroup, the sets Hab and HaHb aren't the same for at least one pair (a,b) in GxG. the set of cosets can still be formed, we just don't get a group out of it. try this with D
3 or D
4 and some non-normal subgroup.
the equivalence of 1 and 2 is what the first isomorphism theorem is all about.