Chapters Sixteen - Seventeen Summary

Chapter 16. Later that afternoon Elena's younger sister Olivia comes to see the two white ladies with something her mother has made to trade. Margarita goes to get rice, and Olivia asks Joanna what color her dress is. Joanna tells her it is blue, but Olivia tells her that it is yellow. They go back and forth like this until Margarita returns, and after Olivia is gone Joanna asks Alicia why the girl kept saying her dress was yellow when it was really blue. Alicia says that Olivia was practicing lying, and that learning how to lie well is important since it is better to lie to a relative and tell them you do not have any food than it is to tell them you have food but they can't have any. That way, the relative might still...