I sat down and finished Esperanza Rising in one day. From the beginning I was curious to see what happened to seemingly spoiled rich girl who loved to listen to the earth with her father. Esperanza was a loving child and it was a delight to watch her mature as the novel progressed. When her father dies and Esperanza and her mother decide to travel to California and with Miguel and his family, Esperanza still thinks that she will be taken care of. "Yes, she thought. They could have a home in California. A beautiful home. Alfonso and Hortensia and Miguel could take care of them and they'd be rid of the uncles." (p. 50) Esperanza had no idea what kind of work was ahead of her - she was still a young girl.
During the scene on the train ride to California, I was reminded of my own childhood. My mother made me a yarn doll when I was a girl. Her name was Mashy and I carried her with me everywhere I went for awhile. At home, her place of honor was being tied to a potato masher that acted as a doll stand. My mother made me the doll not because we didn't have the money, but to show me how to appreciate the simple things. The same year my classmates were getting these fancy pony heads on sticks so we could all pay cowboys and indians (although that is probably a whole separate discussion!). Well, my mom took an old sock, stuffed it with rags, drew eyes on it's face and tied it to an old broomstick. I never even knew the difference!
I was a little disappointed in Ramona, Esperanza's mother. Once she got to America, she seemed to be a strong role model for Esperanza. She was a wealthy woman who gave up her wealth because she didn't want to marry a tyrant and escaped with her daughter for a better life - even though it was a harder life. However, once she got sick, she allowed the depression to wash over her and she seemed to stop trying. She couldn't even fight for her daughter. She just became sicker and sicker until she was hospitalized, leaving her young daughter in the hands of friends to fend for herself. I was proud of Esperanza for not being overwhelmed by her own emotions and for being able to have a goal (save money for her grandmoter to come) and for getting done what needed to be done.
I was, however, disappointed in Esperanza during the scene towards the end of the book where she argues with Miguel (on p. 222). Miguel was appreciative that his life was better in America than it had been in Mexico. He realized that he had no opportunities in Mexico to grow - he would always be pigeon holed as a second-class citizen. In America he knew that he had more of an opportunity to break out of that mold and move forward. Esperanza couldn't see that - she could only complain that life was still hard. And don't get me wrong, some of her arguments were valid, but her life was so much better NOT being in Mexico that she couldn't even see it. She had no hope left in Mexico. Her tyrannical family aggressively took everything away from her and her mother after her father died. And she had things even better than most when her father was alive, but she was lucky that her father was a benevolant land owner. Most people were not so lucky living in Mexico - that is why they fled to America for better opportunities. And it is true that the opportunities weren't always great in America, but they weren't even great for the American people during the Depression.
Overall, I think that this is a great novel to talk about why people come to America hoping for better opportunities, but I still feel that anyone who wants to live in America, should want to be considered an American and live by the American laws and speak English. They don't have to give up their native language or family traditions, but there should be a respect for the country.
Lastly, I thought it was really clever how the chapters were arranged by fruit names. By the end of the novel, Esperanza has come to recognize time not by days or weeks or months, but by which fruit seasons had passed. It all tied back to the image of her lying on the ground listening to heart of the earth with her father and later Miguel.
Did you feel that Esperanza's rage was over the fact that she had had a better life in Mexico or do you feel that she was lamenting the inequities that existed here in America for all who came to work in the fields? Was she not shouting out against inequity in general? She was, as you can see by p. 221 somewhat sympathetic to the claims made by the union organizers. Might this not have the beginning of her interest in recognizing that there were many inequities to minority groups all over and that it was her responsibility to do something about it? Had she not become a stronger person by the end of this story? Had she not shown her mettle? Do you think, as years went on, that she became a member of the group that spoke up for unionization of the farm workers? Was this whole five-month experience not a period of time in which Esperanza had to grow up and see the world as it really was? Do you agree that she did grow up? Did you really feel that she wanted to go back to Mexico? Are there any parallels that you can draw between migrant workers today and migrant workers of years ago?
ReplyDeleteCould Ramona, who had had a life of wealth and position and had been protected for so much of her life finally collapsed under the strain? Was there a possibility that she may have had a nervous breakdown as well as a health breakdown? Can she be faulted for that?
Nice work. Nice thoughts. Thank you for your reflections. Dr. Ries