Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Starting Over

Abuelita’s admonition for Esperanza to not fear starting over introduces the theme early in the story. Abuelita reinforces the theme’s importance as she recounts how she needed to begin again when she was a young girl and her family’s circumstances changed. Esperanza is unable to entirely absorb Abuelita’s meaning when she first listens to this story, but she is soon forced to grasp its importance when tragedy strikes, and she recalls this story as her own new life begins. Abuelita and Miguel introduce the idea of starting over as more than just an escape from a bad current situation, but it takes time for their practical optimism to have an affect on Esperanza.

Over the course of a tumultuous year, Esperanza must learn to start over multiple times. First, she must adapt after the death of her father, when she enters a new social and economic status. She must navigate changed relationships with friends and family members while stepping into new roles and responsibilities as part of an extended family and community. Her focus shifts from her own childish wants to the needs of others as she gains confidence in herself and her abilities. Esperanza matures through caring for others and working in the fields. Starting over and learning something new gradually makes sense and feels right to Esperanza. She becomes comfortable sharing her Abuelita’s wisdom with young Isabel, thereby passing on the knowledge that there is nothing to fear from beginning again.

Family and Community in the Mexican Immigrant Experience

Family, both biological and found, form Esperanza’s support system when she encounters tough circumstances. At the novel’s beginning, Esperanza is an only child and the cherished focus of her loving family, which is surrounded by servants and workers. After her father’s death, Esperanza’s protective circle expands as she becomes a “cousin” to another family group. This time she is not an adored child, but a caretaker and contributor to the greater family welfare. Esperanza has both younger and older role models for this work, through which she quickly learns that family can mean far more than it did before. This new community Esperanza finds herself in is built around mutual emotional, physical, and sometimes financial support.

An emphasis on family and community, however, can have its drawbacks, as Esperanza quickly learns when others in her camp learn her story. She discovers that a possible connection from Aguascalientes knows her family, but only from the perspective of former workers, so this person’s perspective may be skewed. Gossip in immigrant communities not only forms and strengthens bonds, but it can also start dangerous rumors. People in the camps are very much aware of each other’s “business,” as Isabel tells Esperanza, and news of injustice and disparities in workers’ lives travels from one community to another.

The community members are mostly secure in the knowledge that they do not fit the racist stereotype of the uneducated immigrant monolith who is only good for physical labor. Miguel gives the most stirring speech on this subject in Chapter 10 (Los Aguacates), but the attitude is implied throughout most of the story. Esperanza’s new extended family and community allows Esperanza to rise above this troubling feeling, and she finds satisfaction in reciprocating their care for her.

Feminine Wisdom and Strength

Women form the backbone of story of the novel's survival, renewal, compassion, and strength. Maternal figures such as Mama, Abuelita, Hortensia, Josefina, and Ada serve as gentle but firm teachers and voices of wisdom and warmth. They guide the younger generation of girls including Esperanza, Isabel, and even the angry but charismatic Marta. Abuelita in particular is a light to Mama and Esperanza. Her stories and clear-eyed certainty regarding her family’s survival help Mama and Esperanza even as they are denied her physical presence beside them.

Circumstances continually test the strength of the female characters. Mama is a model of calm, fortitude, compassion, and humility, but she eventually succumbs to illness and depression, missing Abuelita desperately and struggling to encourage Esperanza’s own strength. In this weakness, however, she becomes an even more vital role model for Esperanza, prompting a change in her daughter’s focus. Other women surround Esperanza and offer support while her mother is hospitalized, teaching her how to work in the fields and balance homemaking and work; however, Esperanza gains much of her own strength and wisdom through trial and error.

The family becomes complete again when Abuelita finally rejoins Mama and Esperanza at the end of the story. Now, their roles are slightly more equal, each woman young and old able to support the others in new and different ways. The circle expands when Esperanza invites Isabel inside to gain wisdom Esperanza is now able to pass on herself.