Faculty of Arts,
Chulalongkorn University
"The Moths"
(1985)
Helena
Maria Viramontes
(February 26, 1954 – )
Notes
27 Abuelita:
Spanish for "grandma"; common familiar and affectionate term for
grandmother; the more formal Abuela means "grandmother"
27 Tío: Spanish for "uncle"
27 Amá: common familiar term for
"mother" in Mexico;
27 Vicks: Vicks
VapoRub rubbing camphor, eucalyptus oil and menthol jelly; see also
the following links
30 menudo: a tripe stew
seasoned with chili peppers (Merriam-Webster)
30 Campbell: well-known
company that makes soup; its two bestselling soups are chicken noodle and
tomato
31 Pine Sol: brand of
household cleaning product with trademark pine scent; cf. Lysol
Comprehension Check
- What does Luna mean in Spanish?
- What illness does Abuelita have?
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Study Questions
- What
help is Abuelita to the narrator? How is helping the young
narrator through scarlet fever similar to or different from
helping her through her first lie (27)? Is this like or
unlike helping her "avoid another fight and another
whipping" (28)?
- What
help is the narrator to Abuelita? How is helping Abuelita
with root transplants like or unlike helping her through a
terminal illness?
- Why
is the narrator considered unhelpful to—and even destructive
for—her sisters and her immediate family?
- Notice
the description of the narrator's visit to the chapel (29).
What does she seek there and what does she find? Is it
logical or surprising that she goes to church to look for
it? What does she do in the chapel and how does she feel
while there? How does her behavior in the chapel compare to
hers in Abuelita's house? Why does the narrator feel "safe
and guarded and not alone" when she's working at Abuelita's?
The narrator refuses to go to Sunday mass and is called
"disrespectful and unbelieving" (29). How is this an
appropriate or inappropriate description of the narrator as
we see her throughout the short story? As the day wanes, the
narrator is angry
and tired of "unanswered prayers" (30); what
might she be praying for?
- Read
"A
Gut Feeling" and consider the significance of menudo
in "The Moth."
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Vocabulary
point of view; first person
narrator, speaker
characterization
plot
parallels
metaphor
symbolism; symbols
imagery
magical realism
theme
fitting in
gender roles
growing up
relationships
family
kinship
connection
motherhood; being a mother, mothering
healers; healing
affection
food
cooking
faith
belief
spirituality
Hispanic culture; tradition
illness
death
grief
psychology
pain
violence
mood; emotion
transformation
Review Sheet
Characters
narrator – "I wasn't even pretty or
nice like my older sisters and I just couldn't do the girl things they could
do. My hands were too big to handle the fineries of crocheting or
embroidery" (27); "used to the whippings" (27)
Abuelita, Mama Luna
– the narrator's grandmother; dying of cancer (27, 28); "Abuelita has
pulled me through the rages of scarlet fever...seen me through several
whippings...puberty, and my first lie." (27); has heterochromia
iridum (each eye is a different color): "Looking into her gray eye,
then into her brown one, the doctor said it was just a matter of days" (28);
Amá – the narrator's mother (27);
Apá
– the narrator's father;
Teresa – the narrator's older sister;
the narrator hits her on the head with "a piece of jagged brick in [her]
sock...on the forehead, right above her eyebrow" (27)
Marisela – the narrator's older
sister;
Setting
Abuelita's house –
porch –
bedroom –
bathroom –
chapel
Jay's
Sample
Student
Responses to Helena Maria Viramontes's "The Moths"
Response
1:
Reference
Link |
Story Text
- Helena María Viramontes, "The Moths," The
Moths and Other Stories (1985)
- Helena María Viramontes, "The Moths" (pdf file)
- Helena María Viramontes, "The Moths" (pdf file)
- "The Moths," narrated by Jennifer
Goodman (mp3 file; 16:39 min.)
Chicanx Literature
- "Chicana Feminism," Postcolonial
Studies, Emory University
- "History of Chicana Feminism,"
University of Michigane
- Raymund
Paredes, "Teaching Chicano Literature: An
Historical Approach," Heath Anthology
Newsletter
- "Chicano Literature: Context and
Controversy," Onda Latina: The Mexican American
Experience
- Rolando Hinojosa, "Mexican-American
Literature: Toward an Identification," Books
Abroad, vol. 49, no. 3 (1975; Chula access)
Folk Healing
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Reference
Viramontes, Helena María. "The Moths." Growing
Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories, edited by Harold Augenbraum and
Ilan Stavans, Houghton Mifflin, 1993, pp. 32–37.
Further
Reading
Herrera-Sobek, Maria, and Helena María Viramontes, eds. Chicana
Creativity and Criticism: Charting New Frontiers in American Literature.
2nd ed. U of New Mexico P, 1996.
Viramontes, Helena María, and Maria Herrera-Sobek, eds. Chicana
(W)rites: On Word and Film and Chicana Creativity and Criticism.
Third Woman Press, 1996.
Viramontes, Helena María. The Moths and
Other Stories. 2nd ed. Arte Publico Press, 1995.
Viramontes, Helena María. Their
Dogs Came With Them. Atria, 2007.
Viramontes, Helena María. Under
the Feet of Jesus. Edited and introduced by Barbara T. Christian,
Rutgers UP, 1994, Women Writers: Texts and Contexts.
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Last updated March 27, 2019