The financial reliance of women on men is vividly illustrated in the situation of Cesar's last girlfriend, Lydia Santos. Nearly three decades younger than Cesar, Lydia has two children and receives no financial assistance from her husband, who resides outside the United States. She works full-time in an eyeglass manufacturing factory but lacks insurance and can only afford the most basic necessities. Despite being physically repulsed by Cesar's aging and neglected appearance, she maintains a sexual relationship with him primarily because he provides gifts and food for her children. Similarly, after Nestor's death, Delores remarries not out of love, but because she chooses a man who can financially support her and her children. The struggle to earn a decent wage forces women into sexual relationships and marriages of convenience that they might not otherwise choose, a predicament that is certainly not a creation of Hijuelos.