Journey
Esperanza and the others arrive in this U.S. state.
What is California?
This young girl immediately begins asking Esperanza questions when they meet.
Who is Isabel?
How are they related
Esperanza and Mama will now live in this type of community.
What is a farm-workers' camp?
Esperanza has very little experience doing this because servants did it for her in Mexico.
What is housework/chores?
The journey from Mexico to California symbolizes this major change for Esperanza
What is the beginning of a new life?
These two people meet Esperanza's group after they arrive.
Who are Alfonso's brother Juan and his wife, Josefina?
These are the names of Juan and Josefina's twin babies.
Who are Lupe and Pepe
Esperanza notices that her new home is much this compared with her home in Mexico.
What is smaller/simpler?
Sharing rooms
Esperanza's attitude sometimes reveals that she still thinks about people according to this
What is social class/status?
Esperanza's reaction to her new surroundings shows she has not completely let go of this.
What is her old wealthy/privileged life?
This young girl is Juan and Josefina's daughter.
Who is Isabel?
This outspoken young woman is immediately unfriendly toward Esperanza.
Who is Marta?
These people living in the camp work in California's fields.
Who are farmworkers?
Esperanza must learn that in her new life, she will be expected to do this rather than have servants do things for her.
What is work/help with chores?
Isabel can potentially help Esperanza grow because Isabel already understands this kind of life.
What is working and living in the camp?
Isabel is especially excited to meet Esperanza because she has heard this about her.
What is that Esperanza was wealthy / lived on a beautiful ranch in Mexico?
Isabel's questions make Esperanza think about the difference between her life in Mexico and her life in this new place.
What is the workers' camp in California?
Esperanza's reaction to the camp shows that she is having difficulty adjusting to this
What is her loss of wealth/status/her new life?
Isabel and Esperanza provide a contrast because Isabel is comfortable with a lifestyle that Esperanza finds this.
What is unfamiliar/difficult?
Esperanza has lost much of her material wealth, but she still has these important people with her.
Who are Mama and the people who care for/support her
Esperanza's arrival in California marks a major change because she is no longer living this kind of life
What is a wealthy/privileged life?
Unlike Esperanza, Isabel is accustomed to doing these kinds of things herself.
What are chores/household work?
The contrast between El Rancho de las Rosas and the workers' camp develops this major idea in the novel.
What is change/adapting to a new life/loss of social status?
Esperanza's discomfort in this chapter helps establish a challenge she will face throughout the novel: learning to do this.
What is adapt/change/become more independent?
How does Esperanza's arrival at the camp challenge the way she previously understood wealth and social class?
Answers vary. Esperanza was raised wealthy and accustomed to servants. In California, she must live and work alongside people she once would have considered socially beneath her, forcing her to reconsider those distinctions.