Esperanza Rising Summary

The book I’m reading is called Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. The novel’s genre is Historical Fiction. I recently read chapter 3, Las Papayas, where Esperanza and her mother cope with Sixto’s, Esperanza’s father’s, death. At the beginning of the chapter, Esperanza wakes up from her dream about her father singing songs to her in the morning. After she wakes up, Senor Rodriguez, her father’s friend, gives Esperanza, some papayas, coconut, and lime salad that her father ordered. Later on, many people came to the ranch for Sixto’s funeral. Everyone brought many presents, flowers, and food. One day, Esperanza finally had her big, happy fiesta that she was supposed to have on her birthday. She got many presents like a purse, a book, a scarf, and a porcelain doll from Papa.

After Esperanza’s papa died, her uncles came over frequently to take care of the family business.

At first, they only stayed for a couple of hours, but afterwards they stayed every day until it was dark outside. Finally, Tio Luis and Tio Marco, Esperanza’s uncles, came to settle the estate. Esperanza’s mama and uncles started talking about bank loans and investments, but Esperanza didn’t understand what they were talking about. Their lawyer starts talking about how women shouldn’t own land and that Sixto left the land to Tio Luis instead. Because of this, Tio Luis now owns the land and he wants to buy the house but Mama says no to the offer. Instead, Tio Luis says he has a solution to her problem, a “proposal.” Mama rejects the offer again, but Luis adds that he will make things very difficult for her if she doesn’t accept the offer. Esperanza’s uncles leave the house and Esperanza’s mama starts to cry. Esperanza tries to comfort her by telling her everything will be okay, but she didn’t sound convincing, even to herself. Later that night, Esperanza’s family was discussing the problem and what they would do. Esperanza left the conversation and went outside into her Papa’s

garden. Miguel walked into the garden and sat next to Esperanza on the stone bench she was sitting on. Ever since Papa died, Miguel hasn’t talked to her. Miguel and Esperanza start talking about roses, but the conversation quickly switches to the problem of Luis taking over the ranch. Miguel says that if Luis actually does take over the ranch, he will have to move to the United States. The conversation ends, and Esperanza walks inside to her bedroom thinking that nothing seemed right. At the end of the chapter, Esperanza tries to go to sleep but her thoughts kept returning to Tio Luis, making her more worried about what will happen.