Summer of the Mariposas

Guadalupe Garcia McCall

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-19

Chapters 20-22

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 20-22Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3

Part 3, Chapter 20 Summary: “La Rosa/The Rose”

The Garza girls try to resume family life only to be thwarted by the intrusion of news crews. Agent Gonzales visits often, assisting with these challenges and doing an interview with the Garza sisters’ mother for television. They even encounter Gonzales at their church, where Delia whispers, “I think he likes Mamá” (313). Odilia grows frustrated with her inability to understand Tonantzin’s instructions about the roses. Odilia’s mother senses this and sits her down for a chat. Odilia asks her mother if she disliked the roses. Odilia’s mother replies that the roses were nice, but Odilia and her sisters were the true gift—without her daughters, she would be a mere ghost of a woman. Odilia is reminded of La Llorona and finally understands what Tonantzin was really asking her to do.

Part 3, Chapter 21 Summary: “La Corona/The Crown”

Odilia finds La Llorona in the woods and gives her the roses. La Llorona’s skin instantly becomes radiant. Snout-nosed butterflies weave together to stitch La Llorona’s gown, transforming her into an Aztec princess. Tonantzin appears and calls La Llorona to reunite with her loved ones and claim her place among the stars. Odilia hears children’s laughter and sees a new constellation in the heavens that takes the shape of a woman with her two children. Odilia muses, “So this is what it was all about, a new constellation—new life in the universe” (325). Tonantzin tells Odilia that she has made her ancestors proud and that the courage and wisdom she acquired on her journey will lead to a prosperous life. Odilia asks Tonantzin whether she will return if the Garza sisters need her, to which Tonantzin replies that she is always with them: “You are one of many. You are one of us” (326).

Part 3, Chapter 22 Summary: “La Luna/The Moon”

Odilia surprises herself by missing her father, but in time the sorrow dissipates. Odilia’s mother transforms, first taking night classes, then earning her GED and securing a new job as a clerk in a private school. After Easter, Odilia’s family throws her a Sweet 16 party, which Odilia describes as “like a make-up quinceañera” since she didn’t have one the previous year (329). In the middle of the fun, Odilia spies her father standing outside between the lime trees. She approaches him, seeing that his eyes are fixed on her mother joyfully dancing with her new love, Agent Gonzales. Odilia heard rumors that Ernesto’s new wife left him for a wealthy rancher and cleaned out his bank account. Odilia’s father apologizes to her, and Odilia thanks him for coming. As he departs, Juanita appears by Odilia’s side, saying, “And he didn’t even bring a present” (334). Odilia replies, “He did […]. You just can’t see it” (334). Odilia looks at the rest of the family and knows that they will always be there for each other.

Chapters 20-22 Analysis

The book’s last chapters fully unpack the symbolism of the butterflies. When La Llorona transforms from a grief-stricken ghost into an Aztec princess, snout-nosed butterflies—the same species that filled the air before the sisters’ departure—form her crown. In the Prologue, the butterflies symbolized wildness—going wherever they pleased, disregarding all boundaries. Now they signal the restoration of order, marking La Llorona’s reintegration into her community.

Taking her place among the stars, La Llorona is finally reunited with her children. In accomplishing this restoration, Odilia also takes her place in her communities—that of her family, her town, and the broader community of Mexican and Chicana women stretching back through many generations. This cross-generational Solidarity Among Women is what Tonantzin means when she says, “You are one of many. You are one of us” (326). She calls Odilia her little butterfly, marking the end of Odilia’s odyssey and this period of self-discovery.

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The Sweet 16 party—a ritual marking the transition from childhood to young adulthood—solidifies Odilia’s coming of age. She points out that the Sweet 16 is an unfamiliar ritual in her community, where the quinceañera is far more common. She missed her quinceañera, and this party is meant to make up for it, so in this context the Sweet 16 tradition is transformed, taking on many of the traditions associated with the quinceañera: “Juanita and the twins were my official damas, my female attendants, and each of us had been assigned a nice, handsome dancing partner, a chambelán” (329). Odilia’s mother decorates the backyard with flowers, making “a garden for mariposas” (329). Here again, the butterflies—whose anomalous abundance marked the disruption of the girls’ world at the beginning of the novel—now signal that things have been righted. When her father appears at the party, Odilia accepts his apology without absolving him of the harm he has done—thus demonstrating the maturity and self-reliance she gained on her journey.