Starting Over

Abuelita smiled, reached over, and pulled the yarn, unraveling all of Esperanza’s rows. ‘Do not be afraid to start over,’ she said.

This quote, with its admonition to be unafraid of starting again, appears in Chapter 1 (Las Uvas) as Esperanza grows frustrated with her distracted, uneven crochet work while the family waits for Papa’s return from the fields. In its initial context Abuelita calmly unravels Esperanza’s work, and her statement makes it plain that this unraveling should not worry Esperanza because all is easily fixed. While Esperanza’s life unravels in a more permanent, unfixable way after her father’s death, she returns to Abuelita’s words to find strength to continue, and she offers the same advice to Isabel at the story’s close.

‘We are like the phoenix,’” said Abuelita. “‘Rising again, with a new life ahead of us.’

Abuelita gives Esperanza a reminder of the myth of the phoenix in Chapter 3 (Los Higos). The immortal bird associated with Greek mythology cyclically regenerates by arising from the ashes of its predecessor, and the story inspires Esperanza to believe that survival is possible even in the worst of times. Abuelita’s wisdom comes to the forefront and positions her as someone who has survived much herself. Abuelita’s use of “we” draws Esperanza into a circle of sturdy people who rise no matter what happens to them. They rise above the ashes of their circumstances even stronger, wiser, and perhaps more powerful than before.

I hear that in the United States, you do not need una palanca [a lever]. That even the poorest man can become rich if he works hard enough.

Miguel shares this hopeful statement with Esperanza in Chapter 4 (Las Guayabas) as they journey to California on the cramped train. Miguel shows his optimism that connections are less important than hard work in America. He attempts to will that same optimism into the fearful and still-resentful Esperanza. Miguel has experienced the loss of Esperanza’s father as a mentor, a friend, an employer, and a professional connection who might have helped him to build a better life in Mexico. In California, however, Miguel must rely on himself. He has no choice but to hope his hard work will be enough, and frames that hope in a wider context for Esperanza’s benefit as well as his own.

She looked into Isabel’s trusting eyes and said, ‘Do not ever be afraid of starting over.’

When Esperanza repeats to Isabel in Chapter 13 (Las Uvas) the advice that Abuelita once shared with her, she makes a crucial change when she adds the word ever. Esperanza’s implication is that Isabel will need to start over more than once in her life, as Esperanza and the other members of their family and community have repeatedly done. Every time, they have survived. Esperanza shows growth and matured acceptance of this fact with the simple addition of the word. Abuelita’s plainspoken saying now has greater significance and will be multiplied as it is passed down to new generations.

Family and Community in the Mexican Immigrant Experience

The rich take care of the rich, and the poor take care of those who have less than they have.

In Chapter 4 (Las Guayabas) Miguel points to Carmen’s kind gift to a beggar as an example of what a member of an already disadvantaged community can still provide for another. They help each other regardless of how mistreated or misjudged they both might be by someone wealthier and more selfish. While Esperanza encounters other models of this mutual kindness before this particular interaction, it takes Miguel’s clear-eyed statement to convey to Esperanza the real importance the poor must place on relying on each other.

Everyone in camp knows each other’s business.

Isabel confirms in Chapter 6 (Las Cebollas) what Esperanza has quickly discovered: that word travels fast in the immigrant workers’ camp in California, and no one’s secrets or stories remain their own for long. The camp is a small but mostly supportive world, where nearly everyone is equal in status, regardless of their social standing before their arrival or how their circumstances change while there. It is a double-sided coin, however, because news travels between camps quickly, bringing information about different living conditions, wages, and protection. Inequalities prompt quiet conversations that veer from empathy to warning and back again. The workers must protect themselves and their own jobs while sympathizing with others who have it worse.

Esperanza, people here think that all Mexicans are alike. They think that we are all uneducated, dirty, poor, and unskilled. It does not occur to them that many have been trained in professions in Mexico. . . . Americans see us as one big, brown group who are good for only manual labor.

In Chapter 10 (Los Aguacates), Miguel explains to Esperanza that no matter how intelligent or skilled Mexican people may be or whatever social standing they achieved at home, they are often not perceived as equals in the United States. They typically must work harder to compensate for the ignorance of their employers. It is a blunt statement, but Miguel’s words clarify how much the workers have put faith in the promise of a country that does not return their ambition and hope. It also particularly clarifies how Miguel accepts this knowledge and still sees potential in his future.

Feminine Wisdom and Strength

No hay rosa sin espinas. (There is no rose without thorns.)

Abuelita says these words to Esperanza after Esperanza has complained of a prick from a rosebush thorn while they wait for Papa to come home in Chapter 1 (Las Uvas). The previous foreshadowing of superstition and bad luck from Mama is in sharp contrast to Abuelita’s more practical wisdom: in life, with all its beauty, there are still always some thorns of difficulty. It is the first of several proverbs Abuelita shares with Esperanza to inspire her. This saying also speaks to the story’s use of roses as symbols.

Here, we have two choices. To be together and miserable or to be together and happy. Mija, we have each other and Abuelita will come. How would she want you to behave? I choose to be happy. So which will you choose?

Mama’s core of strength and humility shows in this quote from Chapter 6 (Las Cebollas). After Esperanza has rudely expressed her dismay at the cramped cabin where they will now live, Mama tries to make the best out of their situation. She makes Esperanza aware that it could be much worse. She calls on Esperanza to remember and be inspired by Abuelita, and to accept that though their lives have changed, they can still be happy and safe, and most importantly, together. While Esperanza’s sullen response is only to say what she thinks Mama wants to hear, her message provides the dignity that Mama requires.

Esperanza liked Melina’s company. In some ways, she was a young girl, sometimes playing with Isabel and Silvia, or telling Esperanza gossip as if they were school friends. In other ways, she was grown up, with a nursing baby and a husband, and preferring to crochet with the older women in the evenings.

Chapter 8 (Las Ciruelas) finds Esperanza adjusting to her work looking after children and the moments when she can relax in the company of both young and older women in the workers’ camp. Esperanza sees one of these women, Melina, as a role model, a young woman maturing before her eyes. Through Melina’s example, Esperanza understands that growing up and taking on adult responsibilities will one day fall to her as well. In the absence of the familiar Mama and Hortensia during her workdays, Esperanza finds comfort and ease with these other women in the camp and learns from their behavior.

But Mama was listless and Esperanza often found her weeping in silence. It was as if after all her hard work in getting them there, her strong and determined mother had given up.

This quote from Chapter 9 (Las Papas) finds Esperanza near a turning point, aware that Mama, her strongest and most significant role model, is no longer able to act as the dignified example she has always been. Esperanza and Mama are filled with sadness. Neither is able to give the other strength at this point. The affect of Mama’s illness and depression is almost too much for them to bear, and soon afterward, the feeling that she has let Mama down leads Esperanza to make the powerful choice to work in the fields and bring Abuelita to them as soon as possible.

Esperanza was surprised at the simple things she missed about Mama. She missed her way of walking into a room, graceful and regal. She missed watching her hands crocheting, her fingers moving nimbly. And most of all, she longed for the sound of Mama’s strong and assured laughter.

In Chapter 10 (Los Aguacates) Esperanza’s thoughts are filled with memories of her mother as she existed in their former life and in the camp, a dignified woman no matter what the circumstances. Even surrounded by other feminine and maternal figures in the camp community, Esperanza still looks to Mama as her ideal. It is clear that these memories are much of what keeps Esperanza working toward her goal of reuniting Abuelita with them. Esperanza’s memories tie the women’s past and present together.

She soared with the anticipation of dreams she never knew she could have, of learning English, of supporting her family, of someday buying a tiny house. Miguel had been right about never giving up, and she had been right, too, about rising above those who held them down.

These words from the final chapter (Las Uvas) of Esperanza Rising demonstrate that Esperanza has indeed risen beyond her fear and despair. She has accepted her life as it is now and dares to dream again, though her dreams are very different now. Esperanza is clearly proud of the stronger, smarter, yet still loving, young woman she has become, and aware of how much more she can be and do. She has absorbed the wisdom of other women and earned her own over the past year, and is now prepared to learn and share both as she approaches adulthood.