Snakes

Snakes symbolize a danger to women in the novel. This builds on the general symbolism of snakes associated with the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, in which a snake tricks Eve into eating fruit from the forbidden tree of knowledge. Catalina gives Noemí a diary entry of Ruth’s, presumably from the day before she shot her family and herself, that mentions “an egg, split asunder, and a mighty serpent rising from it, expanding wide its jaws” (172). Here, it seems that Ruth may be referring to Howard and his patriarchal control over the women in the family. In a dream in which she is assaulted by Virgil, Noemí sees what appears to be a snake emerging from an egg, which is similar to Ruth’s description. The timing of this image suggests a link between the snake and Virgil, who is shown continuously to...