Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

“Careful. In nature, beauty is a warning. The pretty ones are often poisonous.”

The widow’s words to the young María acts as a double entendré. On the surface, it’s a warning about flowers, but it also alludes to a life beyond the one in which María is currently trapped, foreshadowing María’s transformation, as her beauty is an important aspect of her characterization.

“Alice Moore, eighteen and caught between. Neither particularly short nor tall, hair more ash than blond, fringe growing out after she hacked it short over the summer, so now it falls right into her eyes, which aren’t exactly blue, or green, or gray, but an uncertain mix, like every part of her is undecided, stuck midstride.”

This scene in which Alice considers herself in the mirror represents Alice’s central emotional crisis. She feels she lacks an identity, doesn’t know who she is or where she belongs, stuck in limbo. After she becomes a vampire, she’s forced to wrestle anew with her desires and insecurities, until she better understands who she’s becoming and who she truly wants to be.

“María would chew stems of grass in the field, suck on cherry pits until they were pebbles, lacking any taste, and at night, the plates would be empty, her brothers leaning back in their chairs, content, and she would long for more, wish the satisfaction lingered past the time it took to taste it.”

María’s hunger plays a crucial role in her character development. She’s hungry constantly, unable to sate her appetite. Schwab notes Maria’s unsatiable appetite as a human, hinting at the uncontrollable bloodlust she experiences as a vampire.