Synthesis: This quote is similar to a comment Nick makes about the Tom and Daisy Buchanan in F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy -- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made" (188). Though the Buchanans are not exactly like Mama Elena in their motives, and completely unlike her in their "carelessness" because Mama Elena's destructive impulses are controlled and purposeful, both quotes demonstrate the selfishness and amount of control that the characters involved like to exert on the others around them.

Dialectic Journal #2

Quote: "Each person has to discover what will set off these explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul" (115).

Paraphrase and Context: "Every person has their own unique fire that drives them, and they need to learn to control this and let it happen smoothly." Dr. Brown is explaining to Tita his grandmother's theory about life and personality, which is symbolized by a box of matches that needs help from others to fulfill its potential. Just as...

Fire can consume, and so can personality when it is not properly controlled and given a healthy outlet. Tita needs to hear this at this point in the story so that she can become more confident with her own very strong personality, and so she can allow herself to love and become attached to another.
Synthesis: The sentiment of this quote is mirrored n a quote about the protagonist Janie in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God: "Janie looked down on him and felt a self-crushing love. So her soul crawled out from its hiding place" (122). This describes Janie discovering her love of her third husband, Tea Cakes. It is not until she meets and falls in love with him that her personality is able to fully emerge; before this point, the repression fo her own will and personality led her through many scenes of misery, and relationships that were not fulfilling. Her situation is vastly different from Tita's, as she has found too many connections with other people instead of too few. But it was not until she found the right connection that her "match" was truly lit.