Gloria in Of Women and Salt: Character Analysis

Overview of Gloria in Of Women and Salt: Character Analysis — Gloria is a Salvadoran mother whose story anchors the novel's contemporary timeline. She appears through her own first-person narration in chapter 5 and through her daughter Ana's perspective in chapters 7 and 12. Her arc moves from undocumented life in Miami, through family detention and deportation to Mexico, to illness and death in Irapuato—a trajectory that exposes the human cost of U.S. immigration enforcement and the resilience required to survive it. For a broader view of the novel's structure and themes, see the book overview.