Superstition
In the stories that are mostly concerned with the life of Mexican people there is a prevailing motif of superstition, as a part of their lives and beliefs. In John of God, The Water-Carrier, for instance, we have a man that refuses accept the oncoming modernization of the world, and who, believing that his brother's sore muscles are a demon possession carries him all the way to the top of the stairs to a shrine to cleanse his soul.
The vanity set
The golden vanity set, from the story with the same title, is a symbol of a modern object that was brought into, for the most part, uncivilized world filled with superstition. It becomes grotesquely embedded into the religious superstition, with the main girl believing that it saved her from further harm from her husband.
Domestic violence
The Gold Vanity Set is a story that shows the motif of domestic violence in an understated way, excusing it as something that comes naturally to a woman who has a husband. It clearly shows the true and toxic cycle in simple words, through Petra's thoughts, who notes that her husband hugs her because he loves her and that he beats her because he is her husband.
Womanhood
In the story The Education of Popo, the main character is a young Mexican boy called Popo who falls for an American woman called Alicia. Popo as a main character is overshadowed with the character of Alicia, who represents modern unapologetic womanhood. She is flirty, humorous and a divorcee, which shatters the boy's puritan idea of what makes a woman.
