How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
My mother always hated having her picture taken. She said photographs were a tool of witchcraft. And that may have been so, because hers was riddled with pinpricks, and at the location of the heart there was a hole you could stick your middle finger through. (2.39)
Even though we don't have any ghosts yet, this early reference to witchcraft prepares the reader for the supernatural roller coaster that is to come. This book is scarier than The Haunted Mansion.
Quote #2
"The fact is, though, that he had another calling: conjuring. He conjured up dreams. That was who he really was. And he put it over on your mother, like he did so many others. Including me. Once when I was feeling bad, he showed up sand said, 'I've come to give you a treatment so's you'll feel better.' And what that meant was he would start out kneading and rubbing you: first your fingertips, then he'd stroke your hands, then your arms. First thing you knew he'd be working on your legs, rubbing hard, and soon you'd be feeling warm all over. And all the time he was rubbing and stroking he'd be telling you your fortune. He would fall into a trance and roll his eyes and conjure and curse, with spittle flying everywhere—you'd of thought he was a gypsy. Sometimes he would end up stark naked; he said we wanted it that way. And sometimes what he said came true. He shot at so many targets that once in a while he was bound to hit one." (9.11)
The conjurer in this scene is an early example of superstitious beliefs that seem to guide the behavior of Comala's population. They best start believing in ghost stories, after all: they're in one.
Quote #3
"Now go, and rest in peace, Miguel. I thank you for coming to say good-bye." (11.20)
Eduviges doesn't seem to find anything strange with the fact that a dead man is standing at her window and talking to her, which is part of the reason that it's hard for Juan Preciado to realize that she is dead. It's way easier to think of her as crazytown.
Quote #4
"Have you ever heard the moan of a dead man?" she asked me.
"No, Doña Eduviges."
"You're lucky." (11.28-30)
This statement foreshadows the fact that very soon Juan will be hearing all the moans and groans of dead people that he could imagine. He should have packed his earplugs.
Quote #5
"They're saying that his spirit is wandering over there. They've seen it rapping at the window of a lady friend. It was just like him. Chaps and all." (15.8)
This quote shows that Eduviges isn't the only one who's seen Miguel, and that his appearances are accepted fact in Comala. That boy gets around—in chaps, no less.
Quote #6
"It may be some echo trapped in here. A long time ago they hanged Toribio Aldrete in this room. Then they locked the door and left him to turn to leather. So he would never find rest. I don't know how you got in, when there isn't any key to open this door." (17.17)
The violence people do to each other in Comala has a supernatural dimension—they make sure that even the souls of the victims will suffer, not just their living selves.
Quote #7
"Poor Eduviges. That must mean she's still wandering like a lost soul." (17.21)
This is the first hint we get that Eduviges is dead, and that things in Comala are really totally creepy.
Quote #8
"Are you alive, Damiana? Tell me, Damiana!"
Suddenly I was alone in those empty streets. (24.21-22)
This is unequivocal proof that either Juan Preciado is nuts and we can't trust him as a narrator… or the town is full of ghosts and things are going to get really scary from here on out.
Quote #9
"And that's why this place is swarming with spirits: hordes of restless souls who died without forgiveness, and people would never have won forgiveness in any case—even less if they had to depend on us." (30.81)
Here is the explanation the reader might have been looking for of why all these dead people are roaming around Comala—it has to do with their relationship with the church and their inability to pay the priest to forgive them.
Quote #10
"I fed it well, and it never left my bed all night. You've been dreaming lies again, Susana." (47.21)
Bartolomé, Susana San Juan's father, makes an appearance as a ghost in his daughter's room when he dies, as a way of saying goodbye to her. Ugh. We bet she'd rather he had just left her a note from his deathbed, like a normal person.