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Cecilia
Teresita is a blind seer who lives in the hills near Cecilia’s house with her husband. She provides the Garza sisters with prophetic insight, warning them of the monstrous difficulties they will face on their journey, including the nagual, the lechuzas, and el chupacabras. She also tells the sisters that the greatest monster of all dwells among them, alluding to Papá and his abandonment. Teresita is meant to parallel the blind prophet Tiresias in Homer’s Odyssey.
Teresita Quotes in Summer of the Mariposas
The Summer of the Mariposas quotes below are all either spoken by Teresita or refer to Teresita. 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:
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Chapter 10 Quotes
“What Cecilia has beset upon you is just the beginning. You must save the ear pendant’s remaining gifts. Use them sensibly, for there is so much more to life than nightmares and demons in the dark. In order to go home, to be truly happy again, you must face the worst enemy of all, the monster that lives among you.”
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Chapter 18 Quotes
Then, just as reluctantly as the last leaf of autumn falls off a desiccated branch, Juanita’s hand slackened and fell away from mine. She walked away from me, leaving me alone with my anger and resentment. Papá’s arrival had done what Cecilia and her Evil Trinity could not accomplish. His empty promises broke the code of the cinco hermanitas. We were five little sisters, together no more—cinco hermanitas torn completely apart.
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Teresita Character Timeline in Summer of the Mariposas
The timeline below shows where the character Teresita appears in Summer of the Mariposas. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9
...the ear pendant to hypnotize Cecilia into telling the truth. Cecilia tells them to visit Teresita, a prophet who lives on the hill behind the house. If anyone can help the...
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Chapter 10
The sisters reach Teresita’s house under the hot sun’s glare. An old man (Teresita’s husband) greets them and offers...
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Teresita tells the Garza sisters that the road ahead is filled with more danger. They must...
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According to Teresita, the girls will have to face the nagual (a warlock in disguise who can be...
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Chapter 11
Teresita and her husband send the girls off with supplies and a map of the area,...
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...where the donkey came from and suggesting he might be the nagual in disguise, like Teresita said. Juanita dismisses the old woman’s warnings, but Odilia protests, saying they have entered a...
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...bolting across a field, dragging the wagon behind him. Fearing that this is the nagual Teresita mentioned, Odilia races after them, trying to remember what kind of song will defeat him....
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...the girls argue about whether to stay in the cave or look for the barn Teresita’s husband mentioned, the donkey speaks in a deep voice, exhorting them to listen to Pita....
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Chapter 12
Odilia tries to remember the song of the cave and the rain that Teresita mentioned, but nothing comes to her. While the nagual is distracted, she frees her right...
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Chapter 13
...mothers to their children for centuries to protect them. They bicker about the helpfulness of Teresita’s prophecies, which reminds them of the lechuzas—the witch owls. They search for cover and find...
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...protective circle so she can tie a silk string with seven knots while praying, as Teresita instructed.
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Chapter 14
...left eye, which has been covered by his hair up to this point. Remembering that Teresita’s husband shot el chupacabras through the eye, Odilia feels a chill. But Chencho seems glad...
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...a book about vampires and convinces her sisters to whittle branches into stakes. Emboldened by Teresita’s prophecy that they could defeat the chupacabras and Teresita’s husband’s exhortation to “bash its head...
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