Summary Of My Beloved World By Sonia Sotomayor

Sotomayor Shines Through
Racial discrimination is an ongoing reality in the lives of many Hispanics. Being a minority and living in poverty is tough. Hispanics have not always been very welcomed in America; they face challenges getting jobs, and being socially accepted. My Beloved World is a memoir by Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor grew up in a very poor neighborhood. She was diagnosed at the age of eight with diabetes, which was very dangerous because of the lack of technology. Her father died when she was very young, yet she is still successful. She is the first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court. Despite the challenges in her life, Sotomayor is driven, independent, and intelligent.
First of all, Sotomayor is very driven. While Sotomayor was in fifth grade, she noticed that the same group of kids always got the highest grades in the class. She states, “That was the camp I wanted to join. But how did they do it? … I decided to approach one of the smartest in the class and ask her how to study” (Sotomayor 91). This shows how Sotomayor saw she was not as smart as others. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, Sotomayor chose to seek help from a smart girl. Most people would not care, but she was driven and she wanted to better herself. Furthermore, Sotomayor let nothing change what she was capable of. For most people having diabetes

would discourage them from doing many things. They would be discouraged because during Sotomayor’s childhood having diabetes meant that you would have a shorter lifespan due to the lack of technology for diabetes. However, Sotomayor uses diabetes to better herself. She states, “Later might never come, so I’d better get to work right now” (Sotomayor 99). It takes a lot of drive to take something negative in life and use it as something positive. Sotomayor has the drive to do anything and everything she can possibly do. She has the drive to succeed in life and everything that she does.
Furthermore, Sotomayor is extremely independent. At the young age of only seven, Sotomayor was diagnosed with diabetes. Sotomayor knew this disease was going to be hard to deal with, especially because she realized not everyone would be able to help her with her insulin shots. The insulin shots are what helped her to maintain her diabetes. She says, “It then dawned on me: if I needed to have these shots every day for the rest of my life, the only way I’d survive was to do it myself” (Sotomayor 4). Sotomayor understood that her parents would not always be around and the people around her may not be capable of giving her shots. She knew that she would have to be independent and give herself the shots. In addition, Sotomayor’s family lived in poverty, and they did not have a lot of money. Instead of accepting the fact that they did not have enough money for Sotomayor to buy gifts for everyone she chose to figure out how to buy gifts for everyone by herself. She says, “I’d always taken that part of Christmas seriously. For years when I was small, I bought presents for everyone with money I saved from the penny deposits on bottles” (Sotomayor 94). This shows how Sotomayor is independent because instead expecting her parents to give her money to buy gifts for family members she went out and earned money on her own to buy the gifts. Returning bottles was a good way for her to earn money because of her young age at the time. Independence is a positive characteristic to have because if you are independent you do not need to rely on anyone.
Finally, Sotomayor is exceptionally intelligent. She did not want to do things just until she could do them well enough. She always wanted to push herself a little farther and harder to do things she was capable of doing. She states, “My mother had subscribed to Highlights for Junior and me, and Reader’s Digest for herself, but by now I was reading whole issues of the Digest by myself, cover to cover” (Sotomayor 60). Highlights magazine was intended for children, but Reader’s Digest was a magazine intended for adults. The fact that Sotomayor was reading it at a young age shows her intelligent. She was reading and learning about new things that other adults were reading and learning about. She expanded both her knowledge and vocabulary while reading the magazine intended for adults. Sotomayor knew she did not know everything, however when she did not know something she would observe and listen. She says, “USUALLY, when I didn’t understand what was going on with someone, I could listen carefully and observe until I figured things out” (Sotomayor 61). Sotomayor was talking about how she would watch her mother after her father died to see how she was feeling. She was intelligent enough to know not to ask, but she was still interested in helping her mother feel better. Sotomayor’s intelligence is what allows her to succeed in school and in the real world.
Being Latino did not stop Sotomayor from succeeding in life.

Sotomayor faced a lot of racism throughout her life, and her family often struggled due to a lack of money. However, Sotomayor still shined through the struggles to show her drive, independence, and her intelligence. These three characteristics are what helped guide her journey of becoming a Supreme Court Justice. She has to have the drive to be able to make a case and form an argument. Her independence allows her to choose a side of an argument, even if she is standing alone. Finally, her intelligence is what helped her to preserver through law school in order to become a

judge.