The famous phrase "looks may be deceiving" strongly pertains to Helena Viramontes’s short story, "The Moths." The story, instead of focusing the creatures in the title, is actually about a young girl who comes of age as she is faced with the deterioration and death of her grandmother. Even though the title, "The Moths," seems to have no relevance at the beginning, these creatures help to portray a sense of spirituality, rebirth, and become, finally, an incarnation of the grandmother. The relationship between the moths and the main characters aids in conveying the main theme of the story, which is not simply the death of a loved one, but a spiritual and maturing experience undergone by the grandchild.

The moths help illustrate a sense of spirituality in this short story. Abuelita, the grandmother, uses old remedies which stem from a religious/spiritual nature to cure physical illnesses such as scarlet fever and other infirmities. Her granddaughter is very disrespectful and doubtful of the medicines which her grandmother used, but they always work. The granddaughter tells us that "Abuelita made a balm out of dried moth wings . . . [to] shape my hands back to size" (Viramontes 1239). In this way the granddaughter begins to accept the spiritual belief and hope.

The spirituality is not only present in the moth wing balm, but is also evident after the death of her grandmother. A sense of spirituality is apparent in the quote, "Then the moths came. Small gray ones that came from her soul and out through her mouth fluttering to light" (1242). This presents a religious parallel in which the light resembles heaven. These moths represent angels who are carrying Abuelita’s soul to a better place where she may be reborn.

This action introduces the sense of rebirth which this story uses in order to create the central theme. Before Abuelita dies the author uses the sun to describe rebirths: "There comes a time when the sun is defiant . . . a second when the sun is finally defeated, finally sinks into the realization that it cannot with all its power to heal or burn exist forever . . . although endings are inevitable, they are necessary for rebirths" (1241). This description is very precise in the sense of rebirths because the sun "dies" and then is "reborn" every morning. The quote "and when that time came [sunset], just when I switched on the light . . . was probably then that she died" (1241) refers back to the spiritual aspect of the light being heaven, and this is when the doors of heaven first open for Abuelita. Abuelita’s rebirth is of spiritual nature and is started when the moths carry her soul through the doors of heaven.

Through the spiritual rebirth of the grandmother, the grandchild experiences a spiritual and personal rebirth of her own. It is the death of her grandmother which helps her mature or see the light. Evidence of the grandchild maturing is seen in the contrast between the beginning when she remarks, "I wasn’t respectful either I even went so far as to doubt the power of Abuelita’s slices" (1239) and her respectful behavior at the end. The regret she feels for the way she acted becomes apparent in the end when she is toweling her grandmother’s body. Notable evidence of the grandchild’s change in attitude is when the grandchild says, "The scars on her back which were as thin as the life lines on the palms of her hands made me realize how little I really knew of Abuelita" (1242). This quote shows that she regrets not cherishing the time they had together and not learning from her while she was healthy.

The second piece of evidence is in the beginning when the grandchild feels no need to be comforted or express any love towards her grandmother. Near the end, a sign of the grandchild’s change in attitude becomes noticeable when she comforts the grandmother in the bath tub and wants to be cradled in the womb so that she will not be alone (1242). Also, as Abuelita dies and the moths emerge from her mouth, the grandchild shows a sign of her maturity when she says, "Dying is lonely and I wanted to go to where the moths were, stay with her" (1242). Here she verbalizes that she now realizes how much her grandmother meant to her and that she wants her to be with her forever. These examples along with the death of Abuelita are the evidence that the grandchild has undergone a maturing or rebirth of her own.

The moths represent the grandmother, or in other words, Abuelita is a moth. This is the most influential comparison because Abuelita is the one who influences and aids the grandchild in her spiritual and maturing experiences. The author refers to the moths as gray and connects Abuelita to them by referring to her gray eye. This comparison between the moth and the grandmother is support as the grandchild says—"I always felt her gray eye on me. It made me feel, in a strange sort of way, safe and guarded and not alone. Like God was supposed to make you feel"—expresses the grandchild’s comfort when she is at her grandmother’s house (1239). Abuelita is her grandchild’s guardian angel or moth—she shows her the light. She cures her illnesses, instills values in her, and brings religion into her life. She is the reason that the grandchild undergoes such spiritual and emotional maturation.

It is clearly apparent that "The Moths" is not only the title, but also an important piece of the story which embodies its central theme. The moths become the catalyst that gives identity to the grandmother and her granddaughter, bringing revelation, security, rebirth, and the desire to be reunited. The grandmother, in becoming a moth herself, leaves some of herself behind with her grandchild.

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