Looking into her gray eye, then into her brown eye, the doctor said it was a matter of days.


This sentence is from Helena Maria Viramontes short story “The Moths”. These are the eyes of Abuelita. The two different colors point to the complexity of her personality. Aubeluta is a representation of many spiritual and ritualistic traditions fused together. The gray eye can be a depiction of goddess Athena, the goddess of wisdom, justice, industry, and skill. Abuelita’s home was a safe heaven for her daughter from the abuse of the father. Abuelita was a skilled gardener and healer. The brown eye can be seen as a representation of the Aztec goddess of corn, Chicomecoatl, the goddess of sustenance. The eyes of Abuelita are set against the blank eyes of the marble statues in the chapel. The reference to Abuelita’s eyes and the eyes of the statues is a description of the conflict between Aztec/indigenous traditions and the imposed Catholic norms.

Inna