The Moths Family Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)

Quote #1

I was fourteen years old when Abuelita requested my help. And it seemed only fair. Abuelita had pulled me through the rages of scarlet fever by placing, removing and replacing potato slices on the temples of my forehead; she had seen me through several whippings, an arm broken by a dare jump off Tío Enrique's toolshed, puberty, and my first lie. Really, I told Amá, it was only fair. (1)

The narrator sets up the circle of life here. She's only fourteen and she's supposed to start helping her grandmother, but she sees it as a repayment for the ways her grandmother has cared for her throughout her bumpy childhood.

Quote #2

Not that I was her favorite granddaughter or anything special. (2)

We're going to go ahead and call the narrator's bluff on this one. She claims she isn't her granny's favorite, but come on—her grandmother asked specifically for the narrator to be the one to come take care of her on her deathbed, even though she's not "nice" like her older sisters. They have a special bond, and the narrator is just protesting too much.

Quote #3

I wasn't even pretty or nice like my older sisters and I just couldn't do the girl things they could do. (2)

The family seems to be all girls, with an undetermined number of sisters running around bashing each other with words and bricks (for real). The narrator finds her individuality by being different from her sisters. We can't tell them apart, and don't even know most of their names, but our main girl is definitely special. Even if it's in negative ways, she's still set apart.