But, for some time, before going to the waterfalls, I did not know where to start. How to rise again and set out.
-- Narrator (Ma Lou)

Importance: Ma Lou's first section of the novel opens with descriptions of her mother's illness and death. Losing her mother makes Ma Lou reconsider her lifelong belief in the Christian God. She realizes that losing her mother is not unlike losing her husband and losing her community to the earthquake. This network of losses troubles Ma Lou's sense of reality and identity. Though she is in the latter years of her life, she realizes that she will need to find something new to believe in and some new avenue to healing and renewal. These lines contribute to the author's thematic explorations concerning rebirth, spirituality, and hope.

They taught her who she was and who she wanted to be. Something more than a mother, something of the divine . . .
-- Narrator (Sara)

Importance: In...