Tony also marks the passing of time by two other factors: significant experiences and the motions of family life.
At the beginning of chapter 3, Tony wakes up. The day has arrived, but Tony is no longer the carefree boy he was yesterday. The night before, Tony watched as Lupito (a distressed veteran) was killed. The frightening experience has shattered Tony's innocence, and the text tells us that the "time of youth" has fled his house. Time has passed, and with it, the innocence of youth.
In his bed, Tony reminisces about the events of the previous night. Eventually, he hears his parents arguing. He tells us that his parents always argue on Sundays. In other words, Tony knows that it is Sunday because his parents always have the same argument about religion on that day.
The argument stems from his parents' differing conceptions about God and the nature of...
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living. Tony's father is a nomadic cattleman at heart, while Tony's mother has the blood of farmers in her veins. To Antonio's father, freedom is synonymous with the plains. Tony's mother disagrees; she thinks that farmers are closest to God's heart. She also believes in submitting to the authority of the priests.
Anthony marks the passage of time in several ways: the rising of the sun, stark personal experiences (such as Lupito's death), and the motions of family life (such as his parents' arguments about religion on Sundays).
Tony notices the passage of time with the rising of the sun in the morning. As the day dawns, he realizes that "already the time of youth was fleeing the house which the three giants of (his) dreams had built on the hill of juniper tree and yucca and mesquite bush". Tony luxuriates in the new day as he "lay(s) back and watch(es) the silent beams of light radiate in...colorful dust motes (he) (has) stirred up". He "love(s) to watch the sun beams of each new morning enter the room...they make (him) feel fresh and clean and new...each morning (he) seem(s) to awaken with new experiences and dreams". The morning sun provides a connection for Tony to his roots and his past, and gives him a sense of his own growth and burgeoning maturity as time passes with each new day (Tres).