Baby Thief

In the movie we see that the first person to offer any sympathy to Maria and her need for five dollars is the mental patient who, for what we know, stole the baby.  Maria develops a small obsession with finding the woman's husband and meeting her.  But we know that she wanted to find them again for more than just returning her five dollars.  I believe that Maria respected that woman because she was not only the first person to help her but also because she knew what she wanted out of life, a baby.  It may have been a little crazy for her to take it but she did give it back and she was a mental patient.   

Comments

[Wyatt J.]

I say that the woman's purpose in the movie is to create Maria's obsession with finding her husband. Maria doesn't really know what she wants in life until she meets the woman's husband. After that, she decides that she doesn't want to get married and that she wants to have an abortion. So, the woman's purpose in the movie is to indirectly make Maria realize that her purpose in life doesn't have to be to get married.

[Liz P.]

Lonliness can make people to do crazy things. All women instinctually want babies. We pick out mates that we think that provide for our offspring and start mating. That's what healthy mammals do. Because this woman never got her baby (and because she's a little nutso) she tried to make an "easy fix" for her problems by stealing the baby. Is it THAT wrong? Did that other biker chick look like a more fit mother?