Granma Catarina

Granma Catarina

1. Says

   • ΅’I’m not afraid of the dark anymore.’”(47)
     • She might of been afraid of the dark when she was alive, but when she became a ghost, she had no need to be scared. This might also be a way for the narrator to express his fears. He uses Granma Catarina to express himself.
   • “Lots of people have already died in this world.”(71)
     • She is trying to emphasize that life comes to an end for everyone, no one can truly understand why they die or why they are alive.
   • “‘ The future is full of difficult things that happen in different ways each time. I prefer to divine the past.” (135)
     • She is telling the narrator that life is full of possibilities, but in order to understand what to do in those times of uncertainty, you need to look to what has happened in the past. That way you can analyze what worked and what failed in similar situations.

2. Acts

   • “...Tales of Granma Catarina, who opened and closed windows;” (102)
     • Whenever Granma Catarina closes the window, that is when she is needed by the narrator, and when she opens it, she is no longer needed.
   • “Granma Catarina laughed at the words I invented during our conversations.”(46)
     • She represents the narrator's sense of humor, so she likes what he likes and has the same sense of humor as him.
   • “(...) Granma Catarina doesn’t sleep at all.”(55)
     • Granma Catarina has no need to sleep, but the fact that the narrator knows this means that she roams around the house at night.

3. Thinks

   • Since Granma Catarina appears as a ghost to the children, she doesn't have any thoughts that were referenced in the book. Her thoughts wouldn't even be her own because she is not real, she is a figure of the children's imagination. Therefore, Granma Catarina has no thoughts that are her own.

4. Effects

   • “I didn't find Grandma Catarina in the room, nor was she in the bathroom, and Madalena Kamussekele hadn't seen her either. An almost oppressive sadness swamped my chest, and that's not just blather; it was right in the chest that I got a strange feeling. I went to bed but was unable to fall asleep.” (134)
     • Just from losing Granma Catarina he gets depression because he realises that he is outgrowing his childhood.
   • “I don't like farewell at all, either, Grandma Catarina, I thought, and in the big mirror, I saw myself seated there. I started to dredge up memories of moments or conversations with Grandma Catarina in order to see whether at some point she would come into the room- but there was nothing.” (134)
     • The narrator realizes that Granma Catarina was just a figment of his imagination as a way to express himself.

5. Looks

   • “would slowly appear dressed in the black of her old mourning garb, with her white hair like downy cotton.” (12)
     • She wears the same thing that she was when she was buried. She also appeared slowly, which means that he must know that she is not a normal/real person.