How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
On the third day of rain they had killed so many crabs inside the house that Pelayo had to cross his drenched courtyard and throw them into the sea, because the newborn child had a temperature all night and they thought it was due to the stench. (1)
The story opens with stinky deluge and a sick kid. It may not be hardcore suffering, but it's definitely unpleasant, and it lets us know to expect more suffering to come. If you came here looking for Madagascar III—sorry.
Quote #2
The light was so weak at noon that when Pelayo was coming back to the house after throwing away the crabs, it was hard for him to see what it was that was moving and groaning in the rear of the courtyard. (1)
Our first glimpse of the angel isn't even of a man—it's of a moving and groaning pile of "it." Yep, this is going to be good.
Quote #3
He was lying in a corner drying his open wings in the sunlight among the fruit peels and breakfast leftovers that the early risers had thrown him. (5)
The angel's day-to-day existence is kind of a low-grade suffering: being locked in a chicken coop, eating scraps that people throw at him, getting poked by the kid. Maybe not torture, but pretty bad.