Character Analysis
Rosaura, Rosaura, Rosaura. What exactly are we supposed to feel for this woman? Sympathy? Disgust? Shame? Anger? Injustice? Whatever we, or you, or all of us feel, it's safe to say that this chica's life is not exactly a walk around the ranch.
First of all, the guy she's married to is madly in love with her baby sister. Second of all, she was offered up to him like a piece of meat. Thirdly, she can't nurse, and her first child dies. Whew. Unlike Mama E, she's not abusive, but she's definitely bitter, especially toward Tita:
Let [Pedro] go to a loose woman like you for his filthy needs, but here's the thing: in this house I intend to go on being his wife. (11. 737)
Ouch. But, can we really blame her? Would you be okay with your sister sneaking around with your partner? Probably not.
Just as Rosaura gets dangerously close to the crazy line (she wants her daughter, Esperanza, to wait on her hand and foot), she dies with her "lips purple, body deflated, eyes wild, with a distant look, sighing out her last flatulent breath" (12.810).
Anybody else breathe a sigh of relief?