Feelings Of Inadequacy In The Moths By Helena Viramontes

Adolescence is a hard time for many. Those few years spent entering adulthood is often rife with feelings of inadequacy. Like many fourteen-year-olds, the protagonist of “The Moths” by Helena Viramontes, too, has difficulty in accepting herself for who she is. However, when she is sent to take care of her dying abuelita, she matures from a disrespectful child into a wiser self. Her interactions with her grandmother have developed her character into one that has clarity on and can cope with the way things are. Often called “Bull Hands” by her fairer sisters, the narrator is constantly reminded of how inferior she is at traditionally feminine hobbies like crocheting. Frustrated, she does not handle the insults in a constructive manner and retaliates …show more content…
When contemplating the sun, the narrator comes to the realization that “although endings are inevitable, they are necessary for rebirths”(276). A beautiful sunrise cannot be without a sad sunset just as the joy of new people entering this world cannot be without time passing and grandparents becoming old and dying. Of course, this rational acceptance and realization was not made without help from Abuelita. Earlier in the story, she instructed her granddaughter to crush the tomatoes, garlic, and chiles until “they turned into liquid under [her] bull hand”(275). Instead of her hands getting in the way of what she was trying to do, they were more than helpful in making a perfect snack, something that her sisters’ elegant hands would be ill-suited for. Abuelita made the protagonist realize that her hands are nothing to be ashamed of because they can be useful for different …show more content…
The girl’s grandmother has taught her to think unconventionally that not all things are what they seem. From relatively minor problems of her hands to bigger themes of death, Abuelita has indirectly shown her to not only accept what cannot be changed, but to look beyond their face value and see the beauty that sad and disappointing things also contain. A church, too, is not what it seems. For some, it can provide an anchor in their lives, but for the girl, it seems like a cold obligation, unlike visiting her warm grandmother who teaches her many life lessons. In fact, Abuelita becomes this spiritual stronghold for the protagonist that allows her not only to cope with a harsh world, but to thrive in it with her new perspectives on life taught by someone she loves