How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The maid stares down at the interlaced hands she holds before her, a gesture that Yolanda remembers seeing illustrated in a book for Renaissance actors. These clasped hands were on a page of classic gestures. The gesture of pleading, the caption had read. Held against the breast, next to the heart, the same interlaced hands were those of a lover who pleadeth for mercy from his beloved. (1.1.5)
Some of the first images we get in the novel are of interactions between Yolanda's wealthy aunt and her domestic servants. This posture of "pleading" suggests that their relationship is not exactly one between equals.
Quote #2
"I'm alarmed, you know, the way things are, a big car stalled in the middle of the university barrio." (1.1.13)
Tía Flor keeps making these vague references to "the way things are," and we keep being like, huh? How are things, exactly? This is what we can figure out from this statement: it's not a good idea to go around showing off your "big car" in a neighborhood full of students. Why do you think that might be?
Quote #3
"A bus!" The whole group bursts out laughing. [...] "Can't you see it!?" She laughs. "Yoyo climbing into an old camioneta with all the campesinos and their fighting cocks and their goats and their pigs!" (1.1.45)
The contrast between the privilege of Yoyo's relatives and the poverty of the bus riders could not be more stark. The idea of Yoyo riding a bus is completely ridiculous to her family.