Esperanza Rising

It's now time for Isabel to start the fall session of school, so she leaves Esperanza in charge of the twins for the day. Esperanza gives the toddlers plums to eat, and they both develop diarrhea. She panics but remembers that rice water is a good remedy. By the end of the day, the problem is resolved, but there are lots of dirty diapers to wash.

The camp is nearing the end of the grape harvest season. Everyone is working seven days a week when disaster strikes as a huge dust storm engulfs the valley. Esperanza is fascinated and horrified. “Thousands of acres of tilled soil were becoming food for la tormenta and the sky was turning into a brown swirling fog. Already, she could not see the trees just a few yards away” (148).

When the adults return from the fields, they are coated in brown dust. Ramona develops a persistent cough. In the weeks that follow, she gets worse. When a doctor is called, he explains that Ramona has contracted Valley Fever. This is caused by dust spores from the storm. The disease afflicts newcomers because the residents have developed immunity. The doctor says it will take six months for Ramona to recover if she survives at all.

As the weather gets colder, Ramona’s condition worsens. Hortensia believes that all of Ramona’s emotional traumas have taken a toll. Esperanza says, “What Mama really needed was Abuelita. Because if sadness was making Mama sicker, then maybe some happiness would make her better. She just had to figure out a way to get her here” (164). The doctor returns and says that Ramona needs to stay in the hospital to recover.

Esperanza believes she can bring Abuelita to California if she can raise enough money. Even though Abuelita has a fortune of her own, it is deposited in Tío Luis’s bank, and he will never release the funds. As an alternative, Esperanza can earn some money if she can get work. The other women in the camp are able to find her a job cutting the eyes out of potatoes. If that goes well, Esperanza will be assigned more tasks by the foreman. As she works, she hears rumors about strikers harming Mexicans who don’t want to join their cause.

It is now the Christmas season. Esperanza has been continuing to crochet the blanket that Abuelita started before the tragedies began. As she works on the project, if a strand of her hair falls across the coverlet, she stitches it into the blanket as her grandmother taught her to do. In this way, she weaves a part of herself into the coverlet. On her next visit, Esperanza takes it to her mother as a holiday gift. She hopes that covering her mother with the blanket will connect Ramona to her family and help restore her spirit.

Once the potato job ends, Esperanza is given the task of tying up grapevines. Her hands are so roughened from fieldwork that she must cover them with mashed avocados to restore their lost moisture. After a visit to see her mother, Esperanza learns that Ramona now has pneumonia and will be forbidden visitors for a few months.

Esperanza continues to work and save money until the beginning of spring. One day, she and Miguel are sent to the market to pick up supplies. They drive to a faraway Japanese store because the owner is one of the few shopkeepers who welcome Mexicans. Miguel explains, “People here think that all Mexicans are alike. They think that we are all uneducated, dirty, poor, and unskilled. It does not occur to them that many have been trained in professions in Mexico” (187).

As they are returning from the store, they see Marta and her mother Ada walking along the road. Miguel offers them a ride to their camp. When they arrive, Esperanza notes that the entryway is guarded. Ada explains that there have been threats against the pro-union workers. Marta warns Esperanza that the agitators are planning a general strike during the upcoming asparagus season. They plan to shut down the entire valley. She says that if Esperanza’s group hasn’t joined the strikers by then, they should be very careful of retaliation. A few nights later, Esperanza returns to the cabin to discover a celebration in progress. Miguel has just gotten a job as a railroad mechanic.