The House of Broken Angels

“How could a man out of time repair all that was broken?”

This passage is one of Big Angel’s first internal dialogues about his struggle against time. It represents his desire to repair and help his family and his fear of death. The passage foreshadows the healing that happens in the final days of Big Angel’s life, despite his fear that this repair is impossible. 

“In his house, they were suddenly all awake and moving around like crashing doves in a cage. Raucous flutter and no progress. Time, time, time. Like bars across the door.” 

Big Angel listens to his family prepare for the funeral. The house springs to life around him. This passage includes a metaphor for life: raucous flutter and no progress. Big Angel compares his family’s hurried preparations for the day to an entire lifetime of preparation, all for a simple and mundane death.  

“No way of knowing how language re-created a family.”

This passage explores Urrea’s theme of Mexican identity as it pertains to language. Big Angel reflects on the younger generation’s aversion to Spanish and his own passion for the language. The family is remade as their relationship to language changes.