Esperanza Rising

We are like the phoenix," said Abuelita. "Rising again, with a new life ahead of us.

The needle rocked awkwardly and at the end of her beginning rows, Isabel held up her work to show Esperanza. "Mine is all crooked!" Esperanza smiled and reached over and gently pulled the yarn, unraveling the uneven stitches. Then she looked into Isabel's trusting eyes and said, "Do not ever be afraid to start over.

Our Land is alive, Esperanza...This whole valley breathes and lives...He picked up a handful of earth and studied it. Did you know that when you lie down on the land, you can feel it breathe? That you can feel its heart beating.

Wait for the fruit to fall into your hand.

I am poor, but I am rich. I have my children, I have a garden with roses, and I have my faith and the memories of those who have gone before me. What more is there?

Oh Esperanza!' said Isabel, jumping up and down and clapping.'I think my heart is dancing.

Esperanza leaned around the side of the truck. As they rounded a curve, it appeared as if the mountains pulled away from each other, like a curtain opening on stage, revealing the San Joaquin Valley beyond. Flat and spacious, it spread out like a blanket of patchwork fields. Esperanza could see no end to the plots of yellow, brown, and shades of green. The road finally leveled out on the valley floor, and she gazed back at the mountains from where they'd come. They looked like monstrous lions' paws resting at the edge of ridge.

Es más rico el rico cuando empobrece que el pobre cuando enriquece. The rich person is richer when he becomes poor, than the poor person when he becomes rich.

Those with Spanish blood, who have the fairest complexions in the land, are the wealthiest.” Esperanza

We have little money and Hortensia, Alfonso, and Miguel are no longer our servants. We are indebted to them for our finances and our future. And that trunk of clothes for the poor? Esperanza, it is for us.

Finally, the lawyer came to settle the estate. Mama,

The talk began about bank loans and investments.

Tío Luis sat in Papa’s chair as if it were his own. And

My husband meant for us to live here.

The house is on fire!” Smoke

It is something the poor say.

Esperanza stared back at her in silence. The one thing she did understand was that she did not like Marta.

Isabel never tired of Esperanza’s stories about her previous life. Esperanza

We are like the phoenix,” said Abuelita.

Who is there?” called Esperanza through the door. “It is Señor Rodríguez. I have the papayas.” Esperanza opened the door. Marisol’s father stood before her, his hat in his hand. Beside him was a big box of papayas. “Your father ordered these from me for the fiesta today. I tried to deliver them to the kitchen but no one answered.” She stared at the man who had known Papa since he was a boy. Then she looked at the green papayas ripening to yellow. She knew why Papa had ordered them. Papaya, coconut, and lime salad was Esperanza’s favorite and Hortensia made it every year on her birthday. Her face crumbled. “Señor,” she said, choking back tears. “Have you not heard? My … my papa is dead.

Hortensia set the tray down and brought a shawl and wrapped it protectively around Mama’s shoulders. Esperanza couldn’t remember a time when Hortensia had not taken care of them. She was a Zapotec Indian from Oaxaca, with a short, solid figure and blue-black hair in a braid down her back. Esperanza watched the two women look out into the dark and couldn’t help but think that Hortensia was almost the opposite of Mama.

His touch was warm and Esperanza's heart skipped. She looked at her hand in his and felt the color rushing to her face. Surprised at her own blush, she pulled away from him. She stood and stared at the roses.

Esperanza lay in bed that night and listened to the others in the front room talk about the sweeps and the deportations.