How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
But this was a different kind of help, Amá said, because Abuelita was dying. (6)
The narrator is used to helping her grandmother in her garden, but this time she has to help her at her deathbed. The contrast is pretty striking. In the garden the two are concerned with life—growing, planting, producing food—but now they are concerned with death. But Abuelita trusts the narrator because she has cared for her plants; now she can care for her, too.
Quote #2
Looking into her gray eye, then into her brown one, the doctor said it was just a matter of days. (6)
Abuelita dies of stomach cancer, but the doctor is able to tell that her life force is running out by looking into her eyes. In this moment it's like the gray eye is closer to death (one eye in the grave?) and the brown eye is closer to life. For more on this, get thee to the "Symbols" section pronto.
Quote #3
There comes a time when the sun is defiant. Just about the time when moods change, [. . .] there comes an illumination where the sun and earth meet, a final burst of burning red orange fury reminding us that although endings are inevitable, they are necessary for rebirths, and when that time came, just when I switched on the light in the kitchen to open Abuelita's can of soup, it was probably then that she died. (13)
The narrator relates the sunset, part of the natural world, with her grandmother's life. The sun goes down every night, but it comes up every morning, reminding us humans that endings come before beginnings. This metaphor allows the narrator to think of her grandmother's death as a new beginning, a rebirth.