Part XIII: Beautiful & Cruel, A Smart Cookie, and What Sally Said
New Characters:
Izaura and Yolanda: friends of Esperanza’s mother
Beautiful & Cruel
Esperanza says she is the ugly girl in the family, so no husband will come for her. Nenny, who is pretty, says she won’t wait around forever for a husband. She wants to be able to choose who or what takes her away from home. Esperanza says that Nenny can talk about choices because she is pretty. Esperanza decides not to “grow up tame” and grow old waiting for a husband. She wants to be powerful like the beautiful women in the movies, so she decides to get her power from a different source: she begins to behave like a man.
A Smart Cookie
Esperanza’s mother says that she...
(The entire section is 971 words.)