How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Each time they passed, Ana and Alba sang with the strength of their despair, and female voices rose from the other cells. Then the prisoners would stand up tall, straighten their backs, and turn their heads in the direction of the women's cells, and Andrés would smile. His shirt was torn and covered with dried blood. (14.56)
The prisoners are often blindfolded in the final chapter of the novel. As a result, Alba pays more attention to other sensory experiences. When the male prisoners pass by, blindfolded, the women use song as a method of resistance.
Quote #11
When she had nearly achieved her goal, her Grandmother Clara, whom she had invoked so many times to help her die, appeared with the novel idea that the point was not to die, since death came anyway, but to survive, which would be a miracle. (14.60)
Without communication and companionship, Alba quickly loses her capacity for resistance. In her greatest moment of need, Alba's support comes from the spirit of her Grandmother Clara – the only source of companionship capable of penetrating the walls of Alba's cramped prison cell.
Quote #12
But she invented a code for recalling things in order, and then she was able to bury herself so deeply in her story that she stopped eating, scratching herself, smelling herself, and complaining, and overcame all her varied agonies. (14.61)
Writing becomes, for Alba, the most reliable form of resistance – it's the only thing Esteban García and her other torturers can't take away from her.