“No moment more or less important than any other moment, all the same: the pain as the doctor scraped signified nothing beyond itself, no more constituted the pattern of her life than did the movie on television in the living room of this house in Encino. The man in the white duck pants was sitting out there watching the movie and she was lying in here not watching the movie, and that was all there was to that. Why the volume on the set was turned up so high seemed another question better left unasked. “Hear that scraping, Maria?’ the doctor said. ‘That should be the sound of music to you…don’t scream Maria, there are people next door, almost done, almost over, better to get it all now than do it again a month from now…I said don’t make any noise, Maria.” (81)
For the first time, Maria attempts to separate herself from the present in order to ignore the reality that she is having an abortion. This is a significant event in Maria’s life because she makes a decision that alters the course of her future. While Maria has made an active decision, it is questionable whether she is acting as a personal agent. Who makes the decision to get an abortion: Maria or Carter? What does Maria truly want? Are there any past events that may have influenced Maria’s decision (inability to take care of Kate, Carter is not the father)? While Maria rarely speaks, in this instance she vocalizes her feelings; is she momentarily horrified, or protesting against her fatal decision?
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