How we cite our quotes: ("Abbreviated chapter name," page)
Quote #10
"Lourdes sees the face of her unborn child, pale and blank as an egg, buoyed by the fountain waters. Her child calls to her, waves a bare little branch in greeting. Lourdes fills her heart to bursting at the sight of him. She reaches out and calls his name, but he disappears before she can rescue him." ("Matrix," 174-75)
Lourdes really has had a tough go of it, and no matter how much Pilar resents her mother's attitude toward the world, we realize that it is born from the massive trauma she has sustained during her life. The loss of her only son leaves her with lingering sadness and longing, as she is convinced that the baby boy would have been the answer to her loneliness and sense of failure as a mother.
Quote #11
"I guess you could say she adapted to her grief with imagination. Felicia stayed on the fringe of life because it was free of everyday malice. It was more dignified there." ("God's Will," 184)
Herminia's assessment of Felicia's approach to her life is spot on. Felicia really does live on a different plane from the rest of her family, dissolving into poetry and otherworldly observations when times get rough.
Quote #12
"She made no sound as she wept, as she bent to kiss Felicia's eyes, her forehead, her swollen, hairless skull. Celia lay with her torn, bleeding feet beside her daughter and held her, rocking and rocking her in the blue gypsy dusk until she died." ("God's Will," 190)
Most people would agree that the loss of a child, no matter how old, is one of the worst things a person can endure. Celia validates this opinion, showing here just how much she was connected to Felicia. It's a moment of total spiritual annihilation for Celia, who is as broken and bleeding on the inside as she is externally.