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Chapter 8
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
Odilia wakes to the apparition of La Llorona calling her name as if she were her own mother. She gives Odilia a bitter drink to purge her of “this sweet emptiness.” It makes her vomit, clearing her head of the controlling power of Cecilia’s goodies. They creep from the room and peer into the kitchen, where an ancient hag is busily preparing pies. According to La Llorona, this is Cecilia in her true form; the beautiful woman she is during the day is an illusion. As they watch, Cecilia dusts the pies with a sugary substance, a powerful sedative from the chinchontle plant, according to La Llorona.
La Llorona’s assistance is characterized as distinctly maternal, emphasizing the importance of motherly support in times of crisis. Cecilia’s medicated food is not her only illusion—her own appearance is a deception, a ruse intended to charm the girls into staying with her forever.
Themes
Understanding that Cecilia has been drugging her and her sisters so they will never want to leave her house, Odilia feels like she is in a fairytale. Determined to protect her sisters, she and La Llorona wait until Cecilia leaves before stealing the dangerous pies and feeding them to Cecilia’s pigs. La Llorona instructs Odilia on concocting more jojotle juice—the herbal remedy she drank earlier—to give to her sisters. When Odilia worries that she will do it wrong, La Llorona reassures her that she comes from a long line of healers, including Abuelita Remedios. Odilia remembers her grandmother’s garden. Llorona talks about ancient herbal medicine from the time before the fall of Tenochtitlan, before she lost her children.
Cecilia’s magical trickery deepens Odilia’s conviction that she and her sisters have entered another, illusory world. Feeding the drugged pies to Cecilia’s pigs is a reference to Homer’s The Odyssey, in which the witch-goddess Circe sedates Odysseus and his men with food before turning them into pigs. In this moment, La Llorona’s assistance can be compared to the god Hermes, who helps Odysseus rescue his men. The discussion of herbal remedies emphasizes the importance of ancestral roots, as La Llorona implies that healing runs in Odilia’s blood, inherited from her Abuelita and her Aztec forebears.
Themes
Sensing La Llorona’s sadness, Odilia wonders if Mamá mourns in the same way—not the loss of Papá, but how his abandonment fractured her family. La Llorona tells Odilia to go and prepare herself to confront the sorceress in the morning, and disappears. Odilia makes the jojotle juice and waits for dawn, reflecting on how appearances can be deceptive (as with Cecilia) and wrestling with guilt over the pain Mamá is in. When dawn breaks, she wakes her sisters and forces them to drink the remedy, filling them in on all she has learned when they are finished vomiting.
Odilia’s reflections about Mamá shed light on the complexities of loss and abandonment, and she considers how her mother’s recent distance and stress are indicators of deep grief. In this way, carelessness and lack of appreciation have deceived Odilia and her sisters into thinking their Mamá’s love for them has changed since Papá left. La Llorona’s departure leaves Odilia alone with these thoughts, emphasizing how mothers provide a sense of safety that is often taken for granted. As La Llorona says, Odilia and her sisters are on their own, meaning they must work together to combat Cecilia’s treachery and illusions.
Themes
Downstairs, Cecilia is once again beautiful but obviously distressed to find her pies missing. She tries to feed the girls day-old sweet bread and becomes angry when they refuse. Odilia accuses her of medicating the food, but Cecilia plays dumb. Odilia threatens Cecilia, saying they will alert the police if she doesn’t help them get home. Looking broken, Cecilia tells the girls she never meant to hurt them—she’s just so lonely. Long ago, her husband angered “the ancient ones,” and she lives here alone as punishment for his transgression. The house itself is actually a ruin; only Cecilia’s magic makes it look beautiful. She has no car to give them.
The breakdown of Cecilia’s illusions foreshadows the unveiling of other deceptions, most notably the reveal of Papá’s true intentions. Though her anger suggests a nefarious need for control, Cecilia’s backstory makes her character more sympathetic. Like Mamá, La Llorona, and Inés, Cecilia’s husband is to blame for her unfortunate situation. His actions have resulted in her imprisonment, once again illustrating how male harm can lead to female burden. Cecilia’s loneliness also recalls the sorrow of other mothers who have lost their children, like Mamá and La Llorona, highlighting the power of familial bonds.
Themes
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Frustrated, Odilia uses the ear pendant to hypnotize Cecilia into telling the truth. Cecilia tells them to visit Teresita, a prophet who lives on the hill behind the house. If anyone can help the girls get home, she can. Odilia considers forgoing this plan and returning to the real world, but feels this is the path she is meant to walk. Looking back at Cecilia’s house, the sisters see that it is a ruin and that Cecilia herself is an old crone. Odilia feels sorry for her, but Velia and Delia shout insults at her. Cecilia curses them, calling upon “children of evil” to avenge her wounded pride. A storm picks up and the girls flee up the hill.
Being sent to consult a prophet for help enhances the fairytale atmosphere. Odilia’s sense that this is the path she and her sisters are meant to follow indicates a deepening acceptance of this new, magical world. Still, she keeps her sisters in the dark about the quest La Llorona has outlined, a decision she regrets when the twins insult Cecilia, unaware of La Llorona’s warning to conduct themselves with purity of heart.
Themes
