Earl of Tennessee is about Esperanza's neighbor, Earl, a jukebox repairman from Tennessee. Esperanza portrays him as a decent guy, always giving away old records to kids. The main point of this story is the woman always visiting Earl. Esperanza doesn't know what they do, but she does know that "They walk fast into the apartment, lock the door behind them and never stay long." This shows that although Esperanza is maturing, she is still a child. She still doesn't know what a strange and cruel place the world can be, but she's learning.
Sire is about Esperanza's newfound feelings for boys. In this chapter, she notices Sire, a punk that lives in the neighborhood, stares at her when she walks past. She ignores him, and pretends not to be scared of him. She also describes his girlfriend in extensive detail. You find out in the last paragraph of the chapter that she wants to be like his girlfriend, and have a boyfriend like Sire. This vignette is one that shows how Esperanza, throughout the course of the book, is becoming less of a little girl and maturing into a young woman who knows more about life and her place in society and the world.
Four Skinny Trees describes four raggedy excuses for trees planted in her city. She admires their strength, their ability to stand strong and send roots beneath the ground and "grab on with their hairy toes" and also says that they teach her to keep strong. These trees are almost like Esperanza's role models, telling her to be her own person and be unique, and not be a weak woman, like the Chinese and Mexicans like. They also tell her that no matter how tiny she is, she can break through the concrete and reach for the sky, and she can always just be and be.
No Speak English is about Mamacita, the mother of the man across the street from Esperanza, and her struggles to accept America as her home, and learn to adapt to this strange environment. Her son had been working two jobs and earning as much money as possible to pay for his mother and his baby son to come to America, however, once she comes, she is unhappy, and wants to go back to her home in Mexico. She is unhappy, and is afraid of something, maybe english, and all she does is sit in her room and cry all day. Esperanza understands this, and says that if she was away from her pink house in Mexico, she would cry too. Esperanza also notices how upset Mamacita is once her baby boy starts speaking english as well.
Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice On Tuesdays is one of the shorter vignettes in the book, and maybe one of the sadder ones too. Rafaela is a young woman who is Esperanza's neighbor, and is always leaning out her window because her husband won't let her come outside, every once in a while, she asks Esperanza and her friends too buy her a drink from the convenience store, and she is always complaining of how bitter the drinks are and how she wishes someone would offer her something sweeter. This story shows how we always want something better or sweeter, but we're never willing or sometimes never able to reach for or work for that something. Esperanza understands this, and seems to feel sympathetic for Rafaela
Sally is a vignette about Esperanza's friend Sally, a girl she desperately wants to be like. Sally, with her "satin black hair" and "eyes like egypt" is admired by all the boys in her school, and Esperanza wishes she could be the same. Esperanza, however, also thinks that maybe Sally doesn't want all the boys to lover her. She thinks that maybe Sally wants peace and quiet, and to rub off her eyeliner and get rid of her fancy clothes. She thinks that maybe Sally just wants to have a peaceful place to be, where she can laugh and all her troubles would go away.
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