What is the significance of the wooden crate described in Chapter III?

Many times within the pages of the novel Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor represents a character's viewpoint only in order to put its ugliness on display and to cast doubt upon the character's perceptions of reality. In one such instance, it is revealed that Yesenia considers many of Chabela's decisions as a mother to have been selfish and disgusting. She considers the way in which after Maurilio's death, Chabela had taken her infant son Luismi with her to work, placing him in a wooden crate and keeping him hidden as she conducted her sex work. While Yesenia judges Chabela's behavior harshly, the passage begs to be read more closely so that the reader can see the lack of compassion or forethought in her rush to judge a single mother and widow trying to survive.