Chapter 10 shifts from a larger socioeconomic and historical lens to refocus the narrative upon three half-sisters, Lordes, Biu, and Antoinetta. Each of these sisters has very different lives, yet lives that have particular significance for the culture of Bom Jesus and the Alto. Each of their lives says something about the shared circumstances of women, and what the author believes to be a "tactics" of survival. The author makes a pointed distinction between "strategy" and "tactics," believing that the lives of the residents of the Northeast are too chaotic and rudderless to comprise any kind of enduring strategy; the argument is that their precarious position in a struggle to secure basic necessities precludes longer-range decision-making and planning. In essence, strategy is seen as a privileged position, one of power, which the residents of the Alto lack.

Instead, the author describes the varied lifestyles of Alto residents as a "tactics"―a collection of skills, postures, and attitudes, which, in concert, comprise a "knack" for living. Although recognizable among members of a community, this "knack" for living is highly individual, and ultimately dependent on how a particular person sees oneself.