..."although endings are inevitable, they are necessary for rebirths"

This is a quote from Helen Maria Viramontes' "The Moths." The narrator discusses caring for her dying grandmother in terms of the sun setting. The sun tries to fight the ending day, much like one would try to fight oncoming death. But this defiance is short-lived as the sun "sinks into realization" that is much set, there is no choice. Abuelita is bound to die, but her soul will live on in the moths. She must die in order to be reborn, like the sun in reborn every morning. Death is part of the cycle of life and without death, there is no life. This concept of life is further portrayed as the speaker claims that as she switched on the light, Abuelita died. The expected description would be that as she turned off the light, Abuelita died, as death is associated with darkness. However, but signaling the death with a light that is on, Viramontes draws the connection to the continuous cycle of life. Death can equal life, Abuelita will live on. Her soul will be reborn, just as the sun will rise.

Amber Bissell