Esperanza Rising
by Pam Munoz Ryan
Ryan, P. M. (2002). Esperanza Rising (Scholastic Gold). Scholastic.

This story takes place first in a valley mexico in Augascalientes, then it moves to the United States, specifically Los angeles, California, in the 1930s.

Characters

• Esperanza- Main Character who is the daughter of ramona and sixto
• Ramona - or Mama, graceful leader of the household
• Sixto - or Papa, wealthy landowner
• Abuelita - Ramona's mother, Esperanza's Grandmother
• Miguel - the son of servants, esperanza's childhood friend
• Alfonso- A servant in mexico who helps esperanza and her mama in the US
• Hortensia -alfonso's wife
• Isabel - Miguel's cousin
• Marta - a striker
• Tio Luis - Esperanza's Uncle

Esperanza Rising is the story of a young girl who is the daughter of a wealthy landowner in Mexico who must learn to persevere through one hardship after another after she loses everything she has ever known and her life drastically changes. Moving from mexico to the united states with her mama and previous servants, going from being wealthy and having an abundance to being poor and have barely enough, she learns many different lessons.

Analysis 1 - Class:
In mexico, Esperanza is considered upper-class. She wears fantastic dresses, lives in a beautiful home, has servants to take care of her and provide for her, and can rely on extravagance for her birthday as well as other holidays. One of the pieces of evidence of this is that though she is only thirteen, she and her friends of the same class are planning and dreaming of their Quinceaneras, which she describes with great detail to be quite the extravagant party. Another piece of evidence is how she explained to Miguel that they are both standing on different sides of the river, and neither one will ever be able to cross to the other side. His response to this is to call her queen.

Analysis 1 - Class:
In America, Esperanza is treated just like all the other campasitos are. Her mama goes to work in the fields and eventually Esperanza does as well. The fact that she is the daughter of a wealthy land owner no longer matters. She gains a full understanding of this when she and Miguel go to the market together and he explains why they go to the Japanese market instead of those that are closer. She looks in the mirror and sees the oversized, well used, hand-me-down clothing, her tanned skin from being out in the sun so much, and her rough hands that would never be as soft again as they once were.

Analysis 2There are several times i felt like i could connect with Esperanza. I immigrated here as well from mexico. When my family arrived here to work, none of could speak, understand, read, or write english. Our language wasn't common so interpretation was difficult because few people spoke low German. When I started school, I still knew no English.
Another way i felt like I could connect with Esperanza was discrimination. Though i didn't stand out with the color of my skin, my family's culture wore a specific kind of clothing, that it was well known if we were a part of that culture. We were also lumped together as an "uneducated, poor, no good" culture, and that treatment didn't stop at us as children.

Analysis 3
Papa had a major impact on Esperanza's development. He taught her to love the land and to have a connection with the land and how to feel its heart beating. While he is teaching her this he says "AguAntate tantito y la fruta caerA en tu mano. Wait a little while and the fruit will fall into your hand. You must be patient, Esperanza.' She Quotes him on this directly later on in the book when she is speaking to Miguel.

Analysis 4:
There was so much just blatant racism experienced by Esperanza, her family, and everyone in the camps. Some of the major ones that come back to mind are the deportations happening regardless of citizenship, because they were speaking their minds, and that they got bare minimum accommodations while indoor toilets and hot water were being installs for the workers coming from oklahoma, and Even a swimming pool.