1.) The relationship of the individual to the community in each story and the similarities and differences between the individuals and their communities

The schoolteacher Ines is highly respected by her community, while Osobe is looked upon as an introverted outsider.

Ines is the "town's only schoolteacher" (pg. 9). In a poor town like Agua Santa where most people are not able to read or write, people "look up" to her, as she is erudite and intellectual. Halabi describes her when she was still young as "a woman with firm hips and proud shoulders" (pg. 9). This underlines her authoritarian and imposing figure. In addition, her correct, disciplinary personality, which is portrayed as description of her teaching manners, "applied the same norms of discipline she demanded of the other schoolchildren" adds to her authority...