The Hacienda

“It is said that the mortal life is empty without the love of God. That the ache of loneliness’s wounds is assuaged by obedience to Him, for in serving God we encounter perfect love and are made whole. But if God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, if He is three in one in the Trinity, then God knows nothing of loneliness.”

This quote sets up the religious undertones of the novel. Although Andrés’s identity as a witch is unknown in Chapter 1, Cañas sets up the tension between Andrés’s faith in God and his forbidden love for Beatriz Hernández Valenzuela. As a priest, it is a sin to have an affair with a woman, yet Padre Andrés calls this custom into question by saying that God does not understand what it is like to be lonely. Therefore, God cannot truly understand a love like the one that exists between Andrés and Beatriz.

“I was a body without a voice, a shadow melting into the walls of a too-crowded house.”

Beatriz reflects on the abuse and discrimination she felt when she lived with Tía Fernanda because she is Mestiza. Her aunt’s treatment made Beatriz feel so dehumanized that she felt like she was nothing more than a shell of herself. This feeling introduces Beatriz’s motivation for marrying Rodolfo: She was losing her sense of identity and desperately trying to regain her individuality.

“Mamá married for love and burnt bridges behind her. I didn’t have that privilege. I couldn’t afford her idealism. Not when I had Rodolfo’s proposal, not when I could get us out of Tía Fernanda’s house […] Rodolfo’s name, his money, his land—these could give us wings to fly.”

This quote reveals Beatriz’s motivation for marrying Rodolfo. Although she wants to fall in love like her mother, she does not feel that has the same privileges because she is a Mestiza woman and must focus on survival.