How we cite our quotes: ("Abbreviated chapter name," page)
Quote #13
"In the library, nothing makes sense. The fluorescent lights transmit conversations from passing cars on Broadway. Someone's ordering a bucket of chicken wings on 103rd Street...Gandhi was a carnivore. He came of age in Samoa. He traversed a subcontinent in blue suede shoes. Maybe this is the truth." ("Changó," 202)
Pilar has just been violently attacked by a gang of 11-year-old boys and she's experiencing the kind of psychological break we would normally associate with Felicia. In this moment of parting from reality, Pilar picks up some interesting bits of trivia, which move her even further away from life as she knows it.
Quote #14
"A pair of frayed trousers stick out from beneath a '55 Plymouth. Magnificent finned automobiles cruise grandly down the street like parade floats. I feel like we're back in time, in a kind of Cuban version of an earlier America." ("Six Days," 220)
We've all had that "Twilight Zone" moment in our lives, when things look familiar but weirdly off-kilter. Pilar's first experience with Cuba is both charming and unsettling, a theme that will continue for the duration of her visit.