Growing Through Trials
People never stop learning but they can stop growing. New things can be learned every day; but it depends on what is done with the things that are learned which determines whether or not one grows. A person who chooses to use lessons as an opportunity for growth would advance in maturity, while a person who chooses to focus solely on the negatives will eventually reach a point of stagnation. For this reason, adolescence is the period in which the choices that are made in reaction to lessons about life are most pivotal, for it is during this time that the most important lessons are learned; it is during this time that a person’s character and value system is most significantly molded and shaped to be carried on into adulthood. Young-adult authors recognize the importance of growth in a young person and Pam Mun͂oz Ryan is no exception. In her novel Esperanza Rising, Ryan introduces a self-centered young girl, Esperanza, who could have easily been tragically embittered by her circumstances but then consciously makes the decision not to get beaten down. Throughout the story, Esperanza goes through several stages of growth by rising above a series of challenges and finally blossoms into a mature young woman.
The first stage of growth that Esperanza goes through is a parallel of personal identity and responsibility. As Esperanza learns to identify herself for who she is, she also learns about her responsibilities over herself. Accustomed to the luxuries of a doting family and staff, Esperanza knows close to nothing about looking after herself. Even after she loses her father and says goodbye to Abuelita, she is still in many ways sheltered and protected by her mother and Hortensia’s family. Although she has been thrown out of her comfort zone and is beginning to see the world for what it is, from the time of the fire until they arrive at the camp in California, Esperanza still has her mother constantly by her side, instructing and guiding her. It is not until she is left alone with Isabel and two babies that Esperanza begins to learn some basic chores. As it turns out, her learning process is often painful and humiliating. She is first shocked at Isabel’s proficiency at washing clothes where she is forced to reluctantly admit that she has never washed anything before in her life (Ryan 115), and is then openly made fun of when she attempts to sweep the platform and fails miserably (117). Not long after, she is once again overcome with embarrassment when she assumes that Hortensia would bathe her the way she always has (126).
Over and over again, Esperanza is slapped hard in the face by reality to which she has to swallow her pride. Fortunately for Esperanza, her pride is not out of haughtiness, but ignorance. As Jesùs A. Montano puts it, she is “alienated and disorientated in her new world,” and needs to “exorcise her class-conscious demons” (27). Despite her initial resistance to “living like horses” (Ryan 103), she possesses a teachable spirit which enables her to move past her humiliation with a determination to learn to brave this new environment that is completely foreign to her. As she quickly catches on to her personal responsibilities and gets into a routine at the camp, she also realizes that she can no longer hold on to the dream that she is “still rich” and “will not be [there] for long” (105). Within a fairly short time, she begins to accept her position as a Mexican refugee in the United States where she and everyone else around her are on the same side of the river.
Since that tragic night before her thirteenth birthday back at El Ranchos de las Rosas until the night of the jamaica, Esperanza has learned many things about the world, and not many of them are pleasant. She has learned that her loved ones and everything she has ever known can be lost in an instant. She has learned about betrayal. She has learned that life is not easy, and even so, there are others who live in worse conditions than her. She has been taunted and judged by people she does not even know, and she is expected to fulfill tasks she has never done before. Nevertheless, she does not allow these things to bring her down. Instead, she chooses to learn how to survive in spite of her circumstances. While at first she says that she chooses to be happy only to appease Mama (104), she soon makes it a conscious act of the will. By coming to terms that her life has indeed changed dramatically and is likely never to return to the way it was, Esperanza is able to confront her challenges with a positive attitude. Instead of telling Isabel that she is too good to wash clothing, she chooses instead to make it a point to learn (115). Instead of allowing her hurt pride to lash out at Miguel after the sweeping episode, she dutifully follows his instructions and learns to sweep (118-19). Instead of hiding in the cabin in fear of being ridiculed by everyone, she makes the courageous decision to go to the jamaica with everyone else even though she knows that Marta would probably be there (128-29). With each challenge that poses itself against Esperanza, she manages to overcome it so it is no longer a challenge but a part of her daily life. Upon being able to accept her new personal identity with her new responsibilities, Esperanza takes one step forward in maturity. It is not difficult to recognize that the Esperanza who made a little girl on the train cry (69) while travelling to California is not the same Esperanza who lies in bed with her Mama the night after the jamaica telling her, “I miss my dresses, too, but we don’t seem to need them here” (136).
As Esperanza continues to learn about herself and her personal responsibilities, her growth begins to expand, much like a concentric circle, into the next stage, which is identity and responsibility towards her family. At first, it begins with the fairly bearable task of watching Pepe and Lupe while Isabel is off at school. Although her first day turns out to be a disaster after she learns the hard way that babies cannot eat raw plums (142-43), again, she catches on rather quickly and is soon efficiently providing excellent care for the twins who grow to love her (145). Unfortunately, as soon as Esperanza begins to settle into a comfortable routine, her life is once again uprooted when Mama falls sick and never gets better from the effects of the dust storm (153). With Mama as her priority, Esperanza’s primary responsibility is now directed towards Mama. Unable to bear the thought that she would lose Mama as well (157), Esperanza identifies herself as Mama’s nurse and spends most of her time by her side crocheting, or caring for her (161). As Mama’s condition worsens, Esperanza feels an increasing weight of responsibility for Mama – that “[n]ow it [is] her turn to be strong for Mama” (163). Convinced that the only way Mama could get better would be to bring Abuelita over, Esperanza sets off to overcome yet another challenge, taking the necessary measures to work with Hortensia and Josefina in order to earn money for Abuelita’s travels to the United States.
No longer does Esperanza think about herself and her needs, as all she focuses on now is Mama. Her previous life is now a distant memory – a story “about some girl, someone Esperanza didn’t know anymore” (175). When Isabel asks her what she wants for Christmas, all she can think of is for Mama to get well – for more work so that she can continue to pay Mama’s medical bills and save up for Abuelita’s travels. Gone is spoiled little girl who tried washing a diaper without getting her hands wet (114). The Esperanza at this point, at the tender age of thirteen and a half, has taken on the heavy responsibility of being the “la patrona for the family now” (178), and the only thing she wants for herself are soft hands (175). The growth that Esperanza exhibits during this time is remarkable. Once again, Esperanza could have reacted negatively to her circumstances either by becoming angry and bitter or by falling into depression like her mother. Instead, she recognizes how important is for her to stay strong for both their sakes, perseveres through the most trying period of her young life, and in so doing, takes several more steps forward in maturity.
The third stage in the concentric circles of growth that Esperanza goes through is the one where she branches out the most and truly flourishes as a person, and that is identity and responsibility within her society. Even as Esperanza continues to work and care for her mother, she is exposed to more of her environment and recognizes that she has a bigger role to play that goes beyond working to earn money for her family. As she leaves the camp and travels to the hospital or the market, she becomes aware of the larger scale of the society she is a part of. While her initial adjustments to the camp dealt more with her personal acceptance of her change in socioeconomic status and dealing with how everyone on the camp knew of her incompetence with chores, Esperanza is now introduced to a different sort of discrimination in which her abilities and background make no difference at all. In Montano’s words, “in the United States she is merely another member of a despised “brown” group” (27). When she learns from Miguel that Mr. Yakota is the only businessman in the area who would do business with them without looking down on them as poor and uneducated (Ryan 187), Esperanza is not slow in understanding what Miguel is telling her, and quickly relates what he says to the stories she has heard about other racial prejudices. Once again, Esperanza displays a remarkable sense of maturity when she does not retaliate to this new found knowledge and instead makes a joke to Miguel about looking uneducated (187).
One distinct feature of growth that she begins to display as she finds her place in society is how she learns to care for people. Not just about herself or Mama or Abuelita, but for her extended community, like Isabel and Miguel, and even Marta and her mother. Despite her unpleasant memory of giving Marta a ride, she agrees to Miguels’ suggestion to give her and her mother a ride when they see them walking along the road (191). Upon reaching the strikers’ farm, Esperanza is touched by compassion for the people living there and generously gives a away a hatful of beans, and the piñata she had bought for Mama with her hard-earned money (194-95). Months ago, a woman by the name of Carmen had demonstrated such kindness to her and Mama, and a beggar on a street (78-79). Back then, Esperanza had not understood why Carmen would do such a thing (79), but now that she has gone through hardship herself and understands that she has a responsibility towards other people in her society as well, she is willing to do what she can to make a difference in other people’s lives, no matter how small the gesture. The grace that Esperanza extends to Marta is particularly exceptional, showing yet another level of maturity. Even though Marta gave her a hard time when she first arrived in California, Esperanza risks her own position in the United States and helps Marta to escape the La Migra (208-09). She holds no grudge against her or any of the other strikers despite the fact that they had been constantly harassing Esperanza and her fellow workers, endangering their lives with booby traps and thus jeopardizing their jobs by slowing them down (200-02). Rather than think “good riddance,” Esperanza starts to include Marta and her mother in her prayers at the washtub grotto (214).
As Esperanza takes more interest in other people’s well being, she also becomes increasingly aware of the injustices faced by the minority and gets more and more agitated, especially when the unfairness gets to be more personal. Not only does she have to suffer Isabel’s excitement about being crowned Queen of May, all the while knowing that she will not be, just because she is not white (215-16), she has just heard about how the Okies are getting a new camp with indoor plumbing and a swimming pool in which Mexicans can only swim right before they clean it when Miguel walks in with the news that his job has been handed over to the Okies, to which, she snaps (218-20). While some people may see this as a moment of weakness, it is in fact a significant moment of growth when Esperanza has seen and heard enough about her people being mistreated. Although Miguel accuses her that she still thinks she is a queen (224), it is apparent that she is quite aware that she is not. The reality is that, while she cannot do much about her current position, she believes that Miguel can, and therefore challenges him to make more of himself – to be more than the second-class citizen he has always been. After all his talk about this great land of opportunity where he can become more than he ever was in Mexico and knowing his potential, Esperanza wants to see him act upon it rather than just talk about it (222). Without even realizing it, here Esperanza plays a vital role in Miguel’s growth as well. Although she feels guilty and responsible for Miguel’s departure the next day, her frustration towards Miguel’s lack of motivation stems from the same fighting and determined spirit that had brought her through her hardest times when Mama’s life was dependent on her; it is the same strength that Mama had prayed that Esperanza would always have “No matter what happens” (138). It is the result of that strength that Miguel takes up her challenge and decides to go back to Mexico to get Abuelita himself.
By the end of the novel, one would hardly recognize the girl in the beginning pages of the book. Esperanza exhibits growth by leaps and bounds, and all of that is fulfilled by overcoming the problems she faces out of sheer willpower. She does not give up, does not grow bitter or angry, shows kindness and mercy, and yet stands up against injustice. Although racial inequality is not the driving theme in this book, it plays a prominent role due to the very nature of the story. Inspired by the real-life experience of her grandmother’s immigration from Mexico to the United States, Ryan wrote this book as an account of the rich history behind the legacy of her Mexican heritage (262). The struggle for survival during the Great Depression was something that was very real, and Ryan makes it a point to point out that were no hard feelings against other groups of people who were also trying to survive (261). By writing this novel, Ryan introduces a rather sensitive topic into the world of young adult literature, much to her credit. The fact of the matter is that although not every teenager can relate directly with Esperanza’s trials, many of them go through similar challenges related to discrimination and hardships. Author Neesha Meminger writes in an article promoting “diverse books” that “[b]eing different, for most teens in this society, is laced with shame. It makes them outsiders during a time when all they want to do is fit in—to be accepted, valued, and liked” (11). When they come across books like Esperanza Rising, their own problems can be addressed in a gentler, more indirect manner which helps them to deal with those issues. Too many teens today are caught up in hopelessness and do not know how what to do with their situations.
Through the example set by Esperanza, they are able to learn that the best way to deal with hardship is to press on through them and not give up or wallow in them. The difficulties that Esperanza struggles through range from the simplest things such as sweeping the floor, to major crises such as supporting her family and losing her loved ones. A consistent pattern of finding one’s identity, overcoming challenges by fulfillment of responsibility, and a resultant growth as each trial comes to past is evident throughout the novel. Etched into the very title of the book, it is clear that Ryan’s main purpose in the writing of this book was to challenge young readers to rise above the difficulties in their lives so that they can grow through each experience. In addition, as esperanza in Spanish means hope, the title literally translates into English as “Hope Rising,” indicating that hopelessness is not an option when one chooses to rise above tough circumstances. Ryan farther emphasizes this point through the symbolism of Abuelita’s quilt: That life is full of mountains and valleys. In order to get to a mountain, a valley must be crossed.
Works Cited
Meminger, Neesha. “Getting Diverse Books into the Hands of Teen Readers: How Do We Do It?” Young Adult Library Services 9.3 (2011): 10-13.Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.
Montano, Jesús A. “Transnationalism in the Works of Francisco Jiménez, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and Gloria Anzaldúa.” Multicultural Review18.1 (2009): 23-28. SocINDEX. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.
Ryan, Pam Muñoz. Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic, 2000. Print.