Guadalupe Garica Mccall's Summer Of The Mariposas

The Odyssey is one of the most famous and oldest adventure stories. Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garica McCall is a lot like The Odyssey in many ways. It tells the story of Odilia and her sisters as they return a dead man to his family and make their way home similar to what Odyessus did in The Odyssey. During their journey the Garza sisters go through tests and trials that are similar to The Odyssey as well. Throughout their adventure the sisters follow the steps of ‘the hero’s journey’ since they are called to adventure, complete the final battle, and return home, more bonded as sisters than before.

During Part I, The Departure, the Garza sisters experience the ordinary world, the call to adventure, the refusal, and crossing the threshold.

The test and enemies covered most of the initiation and all started with Cecilia, a witch, “She is medicating you and your sisters, sweetening your thoughts, dusting your dreams with a sugar sedative so sweet and satisfying you’ll never want to wake up for fear of never feeling this happy again. Those pies are meant to keep you here forever.” (147) Cecilia is the first enemy in this story but not the last. She drugged the girls and tried to keep them at her home forever. La Llorona is a spirit who lost her children and haunts the river banks, but during this story she is helping the sisters like how she helped the girls in this scene. Without La Llorona the girls would have been trapped at Cecilia’s forever without hope of ever completing their mission. Cecilia leads to all of the monsters that follow since she cursed the sisters. Cecilia has hindered the sisters' journey since she almost trapped them forever and later made them face many dangerous creatures which will lead to the final battle. The approach into the final battle is a big moment because it is when the sisters are preparing for the last challenge of the journey. Part of the approach happens when the sisters are with Chencho, a boy they met, at his cabin, “After we had finished carving out as many stakes as we could, Juanita placed the finished ones strategically along

When the sisters crested the hill with injured Pita on a stretcher they achieved their goal, “I knew it the minute I saw it from the top of the hill. The girls didn’t recognize Hacienda Dorada, but I did. “Pita, we’re here. You’re going to be okay, mamita,” I said as we stood staring down at our destination.” (240) As the girls reached the top of the hill they achieved their goal of reaching their abuelita's house in Hacienda Dorada. It is really important because all of the enemies the girls have faced and all of the challenges they worked through together were all to get to their abuelita's house and find out about their father. After the sisters completed their goal and made it back to their home they finished the transformation part of their journey. It was concluded when Odilia kicked her and her sister's father out, “My hermanitas gathered around us, clinging to Mama. “This is our house. You don’t live here anymore. You never did. Everyone knows it. The whole neighborhood talks about it. You’re a desaparecido, a vagabond, a lost cause. So why don’t you do what you do best - why don’t you just get lost.” (308) When Odilia kicked him out it was a major moment because it completed the transformation of the sisters accepting that their father was not part of their family. When the sisters kick their father out they are showing how they changed