Cuipas, New Mexico

Cuipas, a fictional town in New Mexico, is the setting of two of Valdez Quade’s stories, Nemecia and The Manzanos. In both of these stories, the protagonist is a young girl growing up in this rural town. For Maria, Cuipas is a town she wants to be saved from. When Nemecia moves to California, she imagines being in her place and leaving the “whispering grasses” (Location 296) behind. It also symbolizes her shared past with Nemecia during the time they shared a room and grew up together. For Ofelia in The Manzanos, Cuipas represents her life with her grandfather. Even though her grandfather believes it to be “no place for a young person” (Location 3384), Ofelia has no real desire to leave. This is the only place she has known and she feels her grandfather and mother’s history there. She longs to go back in time...