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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Summer of the Mariposas, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sisterhood, Motherhood, and Family
Magic, Myth, and Deception
Gender Dynamics and Female Solidarity
Kindness, Mercy, and Morality
Ancestral and Cultural Appreciation
Summary
Analysis
The Garza sisters pick up snacks in Piedras Negras, steering clear of anyone who looks like they could be a gang member. They interact with another guard at a checkpoint outside the city, who asks them for their travel permit while slyly indicating he really wants money. Delia understands his meaning first and passes twenty dollars from the backseat. Juanita disguises it in an old receipt—their “travel permit”—and the man lets them pass. They drive for several hours before stopping at a convenience store.
Playing into themes of deception and morality, the guard’s obvious corruption forces the girls to participate in bribery in order to move forward on their journey. This suggests that the sisters’ “purity of heart” does not necessarily mean they have to embrace a black-and-white understanding of good and evil.
Themes
Odilia tries to move things along at the gas station, worried about attracting attention. The couple running the convenience store seem suspicious of Odilia and Juanita after they argue about the number of sodas they need. When they return to the car, Velia has Pita in a headlock, claiming that she was trying to call Mamá from a payphone. Pita complains that she is hungry and will turn her sisters in as kidnappers the first chance she gets. Furious, Odilia tells them they can’t possibly stop for a real meal if they’re always fighting.
Despite their early success getting into Mexico, the Garza sisters’ infighting threatens to draw unwanted attention, once again showing how sisterly disunity is prevalent and destructive. The twins’ violent suppression of Pita feeds into her disloyalty, and vice versa. Their constant hostilities make Odilia backtrack on her momentary acceptance of La Llorona’s plan, causing further rifts.
Themes
Odilia drops her sisters off in the woods outside of a small town called Castaños and drives back alone to get food. On the return trip, she spots an old woman with long gray hair standing in a field and thinks of La Llorona, taking it as a sign she needs to get back to her sisters. When she finds them, they have tied Pita up to stop her from running away. Odilia reprimands them, saying this trip is supposed to bring them closer together. She comforts Pita, who misses Mamá and is hungry. Eventually, the girls make up, as is their way.
Odilia’s brief sighting of La Llorona reaffirms the idea that the sisters are being looked after by mystical forces, warning her that trouble is afoot among her siblings. Again, the twins have gone overboard in punishing Pita, creating even more discord. Despite the apparent supernatural guidance, Odilia finds it hard to believe this trip will unite her sisters.
Themes
The girls nap in the wooded clearing and wake to find themselves covered in butterflies. Pita rejoices at the return of the mariposas, who lift her spirits. They resume their drive with more sisterly affection than before, excited to reach El Sacrificio. Juanita says that they are doing an honorable thing, returning the dead man to his home, where he can receive a proper burial. Even Odilia seems to agree with her. The girls excitedly discuss how they will be famous heroines in the eyes of the world. They sing along to Selena on the radio, feeling united.
Again, the sudden presence of the butterflies feels intentional, as if they have been sent by mysterious forces to renew the sisters’ convictions and push them toward unity. It works—Pita is comforted, and the girls remember their purpose is to return the dead man to his family. These moments of unity—though fleeting—illustrate the girls’ resilience and their desire to work together.
Themes
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