Moths

Moths are central to Concettina Tempesta’s understanding of death: she believes they are the souls of the dead who have not reached heavenly light and are drawn instead to the false lights of the earthly world. Their voices make private grief seem like an ongoing exchange with the departed, a belief that comforts her after loss but that her son tries to suppress.

Belief and Experience

Orphaned at eight, Concettina was raised by a seamstress and lacemaker and learned the craft herself. As she grew older, she experienced screaming fits and strange dreams, and said she could hear moths pleading with her. At times she shut herself in her room, bolting the window and extinguishing the candles to escape their voices.

Bereavement and Recurrence

After her husband’s death, Concettina resumed conversations with the moths. She said they comforted her and brought news of her departed husband. The belief thus returns in a changed circumstance: what had once been an intrusive experience becomes, in widowhood, a connection to the person she has lost.

Narrative Significance

The moths join the novel’s images of earthly life and the dead, making grief both intimate and uncanny. Their supposed attraction to counterfeit earthly light contrasts with the heavenly light they have failed to attain. Domenico forbids his mother’s conversations, and his attempts to stop them—including blows that sometimes quiet her and sometimes provoke her screams—show how her private means of finding comfort becomes a source of conflict and control within the family.