The Unworthy

“Some of them bite. They have flexible skeletons; they can flatten themselves and fit through tiny spaces, live without heads for days, survive underwater for a long time. They’re fascinating. I like to experiment with them. Cut off their antennae. Their legs. Stick needles in them. I squash them with a glass so I can linger over their primitive, brutal frames.

I boil them.

I burn them.

I kill them.”

This passage comes from the opening paragraph of the novel as the narrator describes sewing cockroaches into Lourdes’ pillowcase to torment the other woman. Throughout the novel, insects are a symbol of the resilience of the natural world, and the narrator is fascinated with the cockroach’s ability to survive seemingly unlimited harm. Her interest suggests the narrator’s struggle to survive her own situation; however, the paragraph also illustrates the narrator’s unflinching brutality as she describes her cruel experiments with cold detachment. This introduction also foreshadows the narrator’s own entrapment in a brutal system of experimentation and punishment, aligning the insects’ suffering with that of the women under the Sisterhood. The grotesque experimentation evokes the theme of Misogyny, Oppression, and Organized Religion, as the narrator adopts the role of tormentor in a world where women are both the victims and enforcers of systemic cruelty. The narrator’s cold, observational tone further suggests a disconnection from empathy.

“They were beautiful, as only those brushed by God can be. The air was imbued with a sweet and fresh scent. The smell of mysticism.”

At the start of the novel, the narrator believes completely in the Sisterhood’s doctrine. This passage describes the awe she feels in the presence of the Chosen during a ceremony in the Chapel of Ascension.