Main Ideas in The Moths by Helena Maria Veramontes

Helena Maria Veramontes composed her short story “The Moths” from her own perspective, where a fourteen year old protagonist female is used to display the evolution of spiritual rehabilitation. The young girl felt as though she owed it to her grandmother, one of the single grown up who behaved towards her in a affectionate and considerate manner, to help her out. Healing and regeneration are promoted by god, family, experience, and tragic forces.

Helena María Viramontes was born into a large family which has put her through a long journey that has made her learn to grow and develop herself. She migrated from Mexico to Los Angeles for a greater life and has attended college. In one of her interviews she said “If I didn’t want to recognize the redemption of their everyday ordeals, why write about them in the first place?” It is obvious that the author's life did not go as easy as many others yet she believes that everyone has a chance of change. This relates to the teenage girl from “The Moths” as the way she started off in the story was not how she was when it ended which shows signs of redemption.

Veramontes addresses the idea that there are other ways to find god than an ordinary religion like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or ect. Despite the fact that the granddaughter is opposed to her family's religious practices and sometimes shamelessly agnostic, she finds a sense of spirit within her relationship with grandmother. The author uses a religious phrase to describe this view 'like God was supposed to make you feel.' The young teen felt safe and cherished when she looked at her grandmother. In the following part of the story, she prepares to cleanse her grandmother's body and performed that 'with the sacredness of a priest preparing his vestments.' The narrator's process in the bathroom shortly before the end of the story can essentially be viewed somewhat as a baptism. The author gives an impression that the devotion we have for a person may let us indirectly see God's devotion for us.

The teenage girl loved her grandmother so much so it was obvious how the death may have affected her in a remarkable way when she confesses her need for her mother in time of agony. This shows a possibility that her relationship with her mother can become more positive. The grandmother is seen as a little infant in the story “She was not as heavy as I thought and when I carried her in my and improved, to have the same connection she had with her grandmother. The old lady could be arms and I felt as if the distance between the bedroom and bathroom was miles and years away. Amá, where are you?’’ The narrator carried her grandmother like a baby yet she did not perceive herself as the mother of the baby rather she was confused about what she should do next so she called out for her mother. All she wanted to do was to start all over again “I wanted to return to the waters of the womb with her so that we would never be alone again. I wanted. I wanted my Amá.” The young teen has been forced into adulthood, and all she wanted was her mother's help. While the grandmother's death was a great tragedy it opened the narrator's eyes in several other ways.

One of the major developments is her realization of the cycle of life. This awareness was indicated by her thoughts while she watched the sun set. She gives the sun a humanly character when she says that it accepts that it is 'finally defeated' and 'sinks into the realization that it cannot, with all its power to heal or burn, exist forever.' She starts to recognize that nothing in life lasts forever and that at times things come to an end so that new developments can take place. The granddaughter's thoughts then directly shifted “The room smelled of Pine Sol and vomit and Abuelita had defecated the remains of her cancerous stomach.” The narrator describes the sunset, part of the life process, with her grandmother's life. The sun goes away each night, but it returns each morning, which reminds us that endings arrive before beginnings. This grants the young teenager to identify her grandmother's death as a new beginning, a rebirth.

In this story the moths represented a lot more than what they seem to be, they were associated with healing what was broken. The moths were an asset to the narrator when she was in some sort of pain. Moths have appeared first to aid the narrators ‘bull hands’ “Abuelita made a balm out of dried moth wings and Vicks and rubbed my hands, shaped them back to size and it was the strangest feeling.” Her hands have caused her trouble at all times and her grandmother's remedy using the moth's wings has saved her from more strain. The moths then reappear leaving the grandmothers body “Small, gray ones that came from her soul and out through her mouth fluttering to light, circling the single dull light bulb of the bathroom.” The grandmother's body can be seen as defeated and the moths exiting can be seen as her soul going towards safety. This made it clear to the narrator that her grandmother is still around and in a safe place.

Many people may say that family is not one of the aspects that helped in the narrator's growth. She does not do well with her sisters as she gets mocked by them and they constantly bashing each other “So I began keeping a piece of jagged brick in my sock to bash my sisters or anyone who called me bull hands.” This kind of extraordinary answer to name-calling is an indication of the major brutality that goes all through this family's relationships. It also indicates how doubtful the narrator is within her circle of relatives that she feels the need to guard herself in this way. Although, her mother and sisters were the main reason she ended up helping her grandmother. The anger the narrator had against her sister has faded away as she took in her grandmother's love. Without being around her grandmother she would not have been in the great place she was in further throughout the story.

Being surrounded by affection, feeling the security of god, learning life processes, and experiencing tragedy guide a person in the direction of growth and development. The portrayal of the narrator at the beginning of the story, known distinctly by her sisters' as 'Bull Hands,'' is seen by everyone as disobedient, and a troublesome kid aside from her grandmother. She is criticized angrily by her family members for her rebellious act of not going to Mass, and she has also been shockingly rude to her grandmother when it came to the unusual healing methods. Throughout the story the teenager experienced several things that have pushed her to heal and mature. By the end of the story she has realized the importance of her mother and how much she needs her. It is important to cherish and take care of the people you love, but most importantly of the people that love you.