“You hold my life in your hands” - “In the Beginning”
Farmer writes, “But that one embryo grew until it was clearly a being with arms and legs and a sweet, dreaming face. Eduardo watched it through scanners. “You hold my life in your hands,” he told the infant. As though it could hear, the infant flexed its tiny body in the womb until it was turned toward the man.” The maturation of the embryo is a prime determinant Eduardo's fate. If it flops, his job will be at stake and his family would suffer as a result. Considering the death of the other embryos, Eduardo wishes that at least the last remnant embryo would survive to remedy his situation.
Mouse - “The Little House in the Poppy Fields”
When Matt insists that Celia would take him with her, Celia tells him, "You can’t come, mi vida. You must stay hidden in the nest like a good little mouse. There’re hawks out there that eat little mice.” Celia uses the metaphoric mouse to enlighten Matt on the impossibility of going with her. The hawk is emblematic of the perils which would ensue if Celia were to go with Matt to her workplace. Celia cites the hawks to convince Matt to willingly stay at home.
