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The Bread Narrator
The narrator or “Eyes of Zapata.” Inés is in love with Emiliano Zapata, a leader of the Mexican Revolution with whom she has two children, Nicolás and Malena. As she watches Emiliano sleep on one of his rare visits (they aren’t married), she lets her mind wander through her past and future, revealing her history with Zapata as well as what the lives of her children will look like in the years to come. At one point, Inés refers to herself as a “witch,” though she seems to be borrowing this word from people who have clearly used it to insult her. Nonetheless, it’s true that her mother taught her long ago how to lift above the earth and observe things happening far away. This, apparently, is a skill all of the women in her family have always had, and she herself passes it on to her daughter, Malena. In addition to describing Emiliano’s infidelity—which she once witnessed by lifting out of her body and watching him sleep next to his true wife, María Josefa—Inés also describes her father’s distrust of Emiliano, the failing war effort, and the intensity of her love for the man sleeping next to her. A tragic character, Inés is bound by love to an emotionally inaccessible man.
Inés Alfaro Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Inés Alfaro or refer to Inés Alfaro. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Eyes of Zapata
Quotes
We drag these bodies around with us, these bodies that have nothing at all to do with you, with me, with who we really are, these bodies that give us pleasure or pain. Though I’ve learned how to abandon mine at will, it seems to me we never free ourselves completely until we love, when we lose ourselves inside each other. Then we see a little of what is called heaven. When we can be that close that we no longer are Inés and Emiliano, but something bigger than our lives. And we can forgive, finally.
You and I, we’ve never been much for talking, have we? Poor thing, you don’t know how to talk. Instead of talking with your lips, you put one leg around me when we sleep, to let me know it’s all right. And we fall asleep like that, with one arm or a leg or one of those long monkey feet of yours touching mine. Your foot inside the hollow of my foot.
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Inés Alfaro Quotes in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
The Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories quotes below are all either spoken by Inés Alfaro or refer to Inés Alfaro. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Eyes of Zapata
Quotes
We drag these bodies around with us, these bodies that have nothing at all to do with you, with me, with who we really are, these bodies that give us pleasure or pain. Though I’ve learned how to abandon mine at will, it seems to me we never free ourselves completely until we love, when we lose ourselves inside each other. Then we see a little of what is called heaven. When we can be that close that we no longer are Inés and Emiliano, but something bigger than our lives. And we can forgive, finally.
You and I, we’ve never been much for talking, have we? Poor thing, you don’t know how to talk. Instead of talking with your lips, you put one leg around me when we sleep, to let me know it’s all right. And we fall asleep like that, with one arm or a leg or one of those long monkey feet of yours touching mine. Your foot inside the hollow of my foot.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
