Summer of the Mariposas

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapters 20-22

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary: “El Venado/The Deer Summary”

Odilia and her sisters gear up to cross the border. Odilia realizes that she is not wearing one ear pendant but two. Her sister Delia compliments Odilia, saying, “You look like a gypsy, a rebel with an eye for fashion” (64). The sisters dress the dead man to make it seem like he is sleeping. Odilia uses one of her amulet wishes to ensure she and her sisters pass the customs officer on the US side. The official who stops them on the Mexico side is “older than the moon” and stares at the teen girls in a sexually predatory way. The girls make themselves personable and playfully invite him to the twins’ pretend birthday party. After the girls cross the border, Odilia’s sisters celebrate. However, Odilia warns them not to celebrate too soon, since they have a long road ahead of them.

Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary: “El Mundo/The World”

The sisters pass through small Mexican towns and try to be as inconspicuous as possible. They bribe a Mexican official with $20 to get past a border checkpoint. Baby sister Pita and the twins begin to fight when Pita cries that she wants to go home. Odilia comes back from a food run to find Pita tied up to a tree like an animal. Odilia scolds her sisters, saying, “This trip is supposed to help us get closer. We have to stick together, be nice to each other from now on” (78). While driving, Odilia sees an old woman in a field, but when she looks back to find her, the woman is gone.

Juanita reiterates that they are doing the right thing by returning the dead man to his family so that he may have a proper funeral. Juanita suggests that they may be on the news for their valor. Velia, Delia, and Pita are excited at the prospect of becoming famous for their heroism. The girls happily sing along to a Selena song on the radio. Odilia notes that the song “made us sisters again” (82).

Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary: “La Mano/The Hand”

The sisters arrive in El Sacrificio, the dead man’s small hometown. At a corner store, they ask where they might find the address listed on the man’s license. Seeing the dead man propped up in the back of the car, the shop owner comments that the man should not have come back: “He’s a good for nothing. Un vago” (84). Odilia sees La Llorona again, who points her to the dead man’s house. La Llorona adds that within this journey Odilia must face her fears and fight her own battles. Odilia does not understand what this means.

When they get to the dead man’s house, they see that there is a quinceañera, a traditional party in Mexican culture that celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday as a passage into womanhood. The sisters debate whether they should return to deliver the dead man, whose name is Gabriel Pérdido, at a more appropriate time. As they are deliberating, a great dane unexpectedly jumps in their car. The dog is called back by a young man, who identifies himself as Efraín, the older brother of Beatriz, whose party it is. Odilia gleans that this young man is the little boy in Gabriel’s wallet photo. People gather and spy Gabriel’s corpse in the car. Beatriz and her mother Inés come outside and grow angry at what they perceive as Gabriel’s return. Efraín opens the door, and Gabriel’s body tumbles out. Beatriz and Inés go inside, and Gabriel’s body is brought into the house for a wake.

Inés thanks the Garza sisters for bringing the body back, saying that Gabriel was always a wanderer but it is good to have him brought back home. She says that the sisters have brought their family peace, but Odilia spots misery in Inés’s eyes.

Chapters 4-6 Analysis

As the sister to whom La Llorona reveals herself and offers guidance, Odilia is the book’s protagonist and its narrator. As a coming-of-age novel, or bildungsroman, the book loosely follows the narrative structure identified by narratologist Joseph Campbell as the “hero’s journey.” In the hero’s journey, the protagonist answers a “call to adventure” (in this case, the sudden appearance of the dead body in the river); receives help from supernatural forces (La Llorona, and later Tonantzin); crosses a threshold dividing the familiar world from the world of adventure, overcoming guardians to do so (the US-Mexico border, with its border guards), and undergoes a transformation before returning to become a fully-fledged member of the community. This structure has ancient roots and can be found in many cultures, and the presence of figures from Mexican myth and folklore signals this modern novel’s intention to engage with much older storytelling traditions.

Both the absence of the Garza sisters’ father and the dead man Gabriel Pérdido’s poor behavior, paired with the corrupt border checkpoint guard who inappropriately eyes the adolescent sisters, imply that the burdens of misogyny are a key narrative theme. The sisters work together to overcome these obstacles, and the ingenious lies they invent to escape the border guard are an example of Solidarity Among Women: Collectively, they recognize the combination of insecurity and toxic masculinity that fuels the guard’s inappropriate behavior, and they understand how to appeal to his fragile ego just enough so he lets them go.

When the sisters arrive at Gabriel’s house and come face-to-face with the grown-up versions of the children featured in his wallet photo, they realize the profound impact that Gabriel’s absence has had on his wife and children. Efraín’s anger upon seeing his father again, as well as Beatriz’s hurt and rage, indicate deep psychological wounds. Odilia later notes that though Gabriel’s widow Inés thanks the sisters for returning the body, she still holds within herself a profound sadness. Gabriel’s corpse takes on a symbolic weight, both the literal and emotional burden that the Garza sisters carry in transporting the body as well as the impact of Gabriel’s life and death on his immediate family. In this way, Gabriel’s corpse foreshadows the eventual return of the Garza sisters’ father. For this community, Gabriel’s return does nothing to heal the wounds of his departure. Though that departure caused them great emotional pain and economic harm, they found ways to work together and support each other, and they don’t need him now. The same will be true of the Garza sisters’ father.