Becoming Naomi Leon

For Naomi León, finding her sense of identity is navigated through themes of becoming and belonging. Naomi’s character development, plot development, and dialogue are used to explore this theme.

Blanca Paloma’s arrival catalyzes Naomi’s personal development. Her questions awaken Naomi’s search for identity and challenge her assumptions about who she is. When Naomi takes Blanca to eat with the other children in the library, Blanca comments that it’s like a school club. Naomi reveals her lack of self-esteem and sense of belonging when she internally observes, “I just thought it was where all the leftover kids ate” (57). Blanca also teaches Naomi the power of asking questions, which becomes one of the ways Naomi learns to use her voice and stand up for herself. When she learns that Naomi doesn’t know a lot about her mother and father Blanca says, “You should ask [...] ask lots of questions and you’ll get lots of answers” (55). On her first day, Blanca finds out more about the students who eat lunch in the library than Naomi has ever known. Naomi takes a mental note as she observes, “Blanca was right about asking lots of questions” (58).

Naomi doesn’t feel like she belongs at school because she is quiet and feels like an outsider—even among the outsider kids who eat in the library. Mr. Marble calls the library “The Sanctuary” (10) and Naomi adds it to her list of splendid words, but the safety and belonging that the word implies doesn’t occur to her until after her trip to Mexico. Mr. Marble welcomes Naomi back wholeheartedly and proclaims, “Now we have our little nest of library chicks all back in their usual places [...] All is right with the world” (241-42). His statement points to the chapter’s title, “A Brood of Chicks,” and to the sense of belonging that Naomi realizes has been there all along.

As the novel opens, Naomi lacks a sense of identity because she doesn’t know much about her parents, especially her father. Sometimes, she feels like she sticks out and doesn’t belong with Gram and Owen because she doesn’t look like “the Oklahoma lot” (11). Instead, Naomi “[takes] after the Mexican side of the family” (11). To resolve her questions about her identity, Naomi asks Gram questions about her mother and father, especially after she overhears her teacher saying things about her mother and father that she never knew. When Gram takes the children out later, Naomi pointedly asks: “What’s rehab and halfway house? Is Skyla sick? And what about our father? I thought he didn’t want us but he did!” (78). Both Naomi’s questions and the precarious situations caused by Skyla’s return prompt Gram’s honesty. Gram’s honesty emboldens Naomi, and she asks more questions. Blanca’s words have already had an impact. Blanca ended her conversation with Naomi about questions and family by saying, “you deserve to know about your own life right?” (55). Her classmate’s question fuels Naomi’s confidence to ask questions about her family.

When the family travels to Oaxaca, Naomi finds even more answers to her questions, which helps her to develop a greater sense of identity. Meeting her father’s aunt Teresa is one of many pivotal moments for Naomi. Her great aunt mainly speaks Zapotec, an Indigenous language. This information provides Naomi with more information about her cultural identity. Although they don’t speak the same language, Naomi feels the warmth and love emanating from her aunt. Teresa holds Naomi’s face in her hands and says, “she can see the face of [Naomi’s] father and [Naomi’s] face” (172). After their visit, she also learns that the animals she carves are like the ones her father makes, and Naomi swells with pride and joy.

Clothes play a symbolic role in Naomi’s search for identity, helping her to become her own individual and feel as though she belongs. When she attempts to connect with her mother, she wears the clothes Skyla bought for her, because she hopes it will make Skyla love her. In Mexico, Naomi leaves those clothes and that attitude behind. Before visiting Teresa, Naomi spends time in the mirror admiring “the Mexican girl looking back at [her]” (169). Gram purchased an outfit for her at a market in Oaxaca, and the clothes make Naomi look like one of the local girls. This self-image boosts her self-confidence and sense of cultural identity. She wears those clothes again on La Noche de los Rábanos, where she continues the León family tradition of participating in the contest for over 100 years. On the night of the celebration, her father laments that the family tradition has been broken as he missed a year because he didn’t participate. His pride is evident when he learns that Naomi was a part of the second-place winning team. Hearing her father express love and approval for her true identity bolsters Naomi’s self-esteem even further. Participating in a contest that her family has made a tradition for over a century makes Naomi feel like she belongs to a culture, tradition, and family that she enjoys.

Another aspect of Naomi’s self-identity requires her to find her voice as she begins to become her true self and feels as though she truly belongs. Several low moments for Naomi involve her inability to speak up. When Owen is bullied, she becomes angry with herself, thinking, “Why couldn’t I speak up and defend Owen or myself?” (68). She is also tongue-tied when Skyla forces her to thank Clive for the gifts they’ve received; she’s barely able to speak the words. Naomi’s soft voice and reticence come from the trauma she endured as a young girl; when the children first arrived at Gram’s, Naomi had selective mutism for two years.

Part of Naomi’s becoming requires her to push through paralyzing fear and speak her mind. Skyla’s abuse serves as a major catalyst: When Skyla tries to shun Owen and kidnap Naomi, Naomi’s finds her voice and says all the things she hadn’t been able to say to Skyla to defend herself and her brother from her mother’s abuse. She does the same in the court hearing. Faced with the threat of losing Gram and Owen, Naomi’s words spill over, and she gives the judge more than enough information to make a ruling in Gram’s favor. In the final pages, those closest to Naomi at school remark about her transformation by recognizing how she uses her voice. Mr. Marble remarks, “I can already tell you are a different girl since you went to Mexico. Before you were a mouse, but now you have the countenance of a lioness” (243). Naomi has become “Naomi the lion,” referencing the novel’s title and Blanca’s nickname for Naomi.