Essay On Sonia Sotomayor

Justin Newsom
Selcraig: MWF 10 am
11/02/2014
Sonia Sotomayor: My Beloved World
Sonia Maria Sotomayor was born June 25th, 1954 in an area of New York City commonly known as The Bronx. Overcoming adversity and hardships, Sotomayor became the third woman, and the first Hispanic Supreme court justice. Her parents were Puerto Rico immigrants who came to the US with nothing to their name. Sonia grew up in horrible conditions in housing projects in the Bronx. Struggling for a glimpse of a life, Sonia’s mother got a job as a nurse and often worked long hours without coming home. On the other hand, her father was a raging alcoholic who passed away when Sonia was only nine years old. As if life wasn’t already hard enough, Sonia was diagnosed with juvenile

diabetes which helped push her to be more responsible and dependent on herself.
We see in many areas of the book that even as a young girl, she shows signs of maturity and understanding.

“My father’s neglect made me sad, but I understood that he could not help himself, my mother’s neglect made me angry” (p. 16) However we see how she is conflicted with the sorrow of her father’s passing, and the desire to no longer let him be a negative aspect in her life when she herself states, “Maybe it would be easier this way.” Mourning her husbands’ death, Sonia’s mother fell into a long season of depression, and shut herself away from everyone for months. As a result, Sonia threw herself into books from the library until she couldn’t take it anymore and begged her mother not to die

to.
Sonia often found the small light in a seemingly overwhelming dark world. Having a small support system consisting of her maternal grandfather, who took her in when her mother abandoned her, and a few other relatives, she seeks comfort in things offered by the outside world. Her trips to Puerto Rico exposes her to the natural beauty and peace of the island in which she finds comfort and tranquility in. her grandmothers apartment became her comfort zone where she felt safe from the cold outside world. She describes it as a place of music and the happiest smells of garlic and onions from her grandmothers cooking. Places like the children’s museum and the library became her safe haven.
Growing up speaking Portuguese, life was obviously hard in a dominantly English speaking society. Her mother helped take the early steps in bettering her children’s lives by speaking English with them, even buying an encyclopedia. Sonia responded extremely well to learning and education. To help figure out how to excel in school, she even approached one of the brightest girls in the school in hopes to find out the best ways to study. UIL activities such as the debate team in high school lit the flame for her to learn how to perfect public speaking and structure a good argument. Sonia quickly saw her education as a way to a better life not only financially, but she understood that an education allows people to be free from the chains of oppressive society, and to think for herself.
Towards her senior year she had given medium thought to college until an older student educated her about Ivy League schools, which lead her to pursue a degree at Princeton University.

College was a whole new world, an unexplored frontier for Sonia that she would develop brilliantly. At Princeton, she joins a Puerto Rican student organization whose main goal or purpose was to get more Latino students. Apart with being a straight A student, Sonia finds herself able to turn depression and self doubt into a motivational force that allows her to exceed in many ways. Sonia in her senior year will win the Pyne Prize which is the most prestigious award awarded to seniors, and also graduate with honors as Summa Cum

Laude.
Sonia Sotomayor has become an icon of hope and the prime example of how determination and an idea of self worth can truly change someone’s life. In 2009 she was voted into the Supreme Court, breaking social and political norms being the third woman and the first Hispanic in the Supreme Court. She has fought to better the lives of immigrants in the US and strived to make America the true melting pot she believes it should be.