How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Really, I don't think she knew what she was saying, about how the woman and kid who got shot must have been drug dealers or whatever."
"Oh, I believe she did. This is how Americans think." He was looking at me in a thoughtful way. "You believe that if something terrible happens to someone, they must have deserved it."
"I wanted to tell him that this wasn't so, but I couldn't. (8.90)
When Taylor tries to apologize to Estevan on behalf of Virgie Mae, Estevan refuses the apology. His reasoning helps Taylor to understand something that she's never considered before: that blaming and fearing victims rather than perpetrators of injustice lets people feel "safe."
Quote #8
Then out of the clear blue sky he said, "In Guatemala City the police use electricity for interrogation. They have something called the 'telephone,' which is an actual telephone of the type they use in the field. It has its own generator, operated by a handle." [...] "A crank? Like the old-fashioned telephones?" "Operated with a crank," he said. "The telephones are made in the United States." (9.28-30)
Getting to know Estevan and Esperanza changes Taylor's view of the world fundamentally. The things that Estevan tells her about his life in Guatemala are things she would have once ascribed to the realm of fiction. Through them, she begins to understand the extent of her own ignorance and, most importantly, the way that ignorance contributes to the deep injustice underlying the status quo. Including the fact that a normal telephone made in the U.S. can be used as a torture device. Does that mean that American phone producers are helping out the torturers?
Quote #9
I didn't want to believe the world could be so unjust. But of course it was right there in front of my nose. If the truth was a snake it would have bitten me a long time ago. It would have had me for dinner. (11.72)
As Taylor begins to understand more about the injustices of the world, the knowledge is overwhelming. Coming to terms with her inability to change the world as one single, solitary human being is one of the most important steps she makes in the novel; learning to do whatever she can is another.