How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Pura Vicario had finished drinking, dried her lips on her sleeve, and smiled at her from the bar with her new glasses. In that smile, for the first time since her birth, Angela Vicario saw her as she was: a poor woman devoted to the cult of her defects. "S***," she said to herself. (4.30)
We like to think of this moment as Angela Vicario's enlightenment. Her mom, Pura, is basically the symbol of a culture that aims to keep women in a subservient position to men. The "cult of defects" refers to the way women are watched like hawks in their society, whereas men can do whatever they want to and get no blame. But at this moment Angela decides, "screw that."