How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
At home, Trujillo hung on the wall by the picture of Our Lord Jesus with a whole flock of the cutest lambs. (1.2.57)
Every home in the Dominican Republic was required by law to display a photograph of Trujillo, like this one. Its proximity to the picture of Jesus in the Mirabal home gives the dictator and God equal weight, from a visual perspective.
Quote #5
I resolve not to think of clothes when I am in church.
I resolve to be chaste, as that is a noble thing to do. (Sor Asunción said we should all resolve this as young ladies in the holy Catholic and Apostolic church.) (1.3.59-60)
When Mate is a little girl she doesn't take her faith very seriously; she sees it as something that gets in the way of her worries about fashion. Mate just absorbs the nuns' teachings without thinking about why she should behave in any way; she just wants to fit in at this stage in her life, and religion is the way she is able to do so.
Quote #6
From the beginning, I felt it, snug inside my heart, the pearl of great price. No one had to tell me to believe in God or to love everything that lives. I did it automatically like a shoot inching its way towards the light. (1.4.1)
Once again Patria is quoting that Bible. This time she refers to a parable that Jesus told about a man who sold everything he had in order to buy one "pearl of great price." This is to say that faith is worth all possessions, and once you have it you will do anything to keep it.