Esperanza Rising


"Wait a little while, and the fruit will fall into your hand.” Esperanza lives the life any girl would want she lives in a big rancho called, El Rancho de las Rosas, is spoiled, and even has servants at her service. But the night before her thirteenth birthday she finds out her father died. She is forced to leave El Rancho de las Rosas because her Tio Luis wants to take over the rancho, force Mama to marry him, and send Esperanza away to go to a good school. So the adventure starts when Esperanza and Mama decide to escape to the United States with Hortensia, Alfonso and their child Miguel. They ride on a wagon to Zacatecas and from there they will ride a lower class train that is full of dirty smelly peasants all the way to the border.When Esperanza was on the train she remembered when she was five and her father took her and Miguel on a first class train ride with leather seats, lunch, and really delicious mangos. In the train ride she also realizes that she is now a peasant and that “the rich take care of the rich and the poor take care of those who have less than they have.”

When she finally gets to the United States she heads to Los Angeles, California. They settle in with Alfonso’s brother, Juan, his wife, Josefina, and their children. There she has to learn how to do chores, word hard, and to start being more responsible. Isabel, Juan and Josefina’s 8 year old daughter becomes best friends with Esperanza. Isabel teaches Esperanza how to help around the house but in exchange Esperanza has to tell Isabel stories of when she was back in Aguascalientes and was rich. In California she learns many stuff but goes through tough times too. At the end of the book she becomes a lot stronger and a totally different person than she was before her father died.

This book was one of the most inspirational books I have read. Esperanza goes through a lot of hard times but always has faith and comes out stronger from the problems she faces. At the beginning she was a spoiled little brat but at the end she was a caring hard working person. Some of the quotes that were in the book that are very inspirational to me are; “He who falls today may rise tomorrow” [2] which means that if you have problems in the present you will be successful in the future. Another one that I really like is, “No hay rosas sin espinas” which mean that something good can't happen without something bad happening first. The characters in this book always motivated Esperanza to keep going and to be happy with what she has. Overall this was an amazing book because of the characters, the settings, and the plot. This book has motivated me in so many ways and Esperanza has really taught me to always be humble and to “never be afraid to start over” [15].