“Esperanza believed her life would be wonderful forever. She would always live on her family’s ranch in Mexico. She would always have fancy dresses and a beautiful home field with servants. Papa and Abuelita would always be with her. But a sudden tragedy shatters her world and forces Esperanza and Mama to flee to California, where they settle in a camp for Mexican farm workers.” Despite such a sudden change, what helped Esperanza, the main character, and her family to be strong is that they thought problems do help everyone to become stronger only if they believe in themselves and are flexible enough to use it as a learning opportunity.
In Mexico, Esperanza had his father, the person who she was very close to and who was like her hero or armor, always supporting and protecting the family against problems. Esperanza, too, was his father’s glory and honor. She had the best time of her life with her father “walking through the gentle slopes of the vineyard”(pg. 1, Pam Munoz Rayan), laying down on the ground and feeling the earth breathe, and signaling to one another while gathering the harvests. However, in a gloomy and dark evening, Esperanza lost all of these nice things while she “bent over to pick a red bloom, fully opened, and pricked her finger on a vicious thorn. Big pearls of blood pulsed from the tip of her thumb and she automatically thought ‘Bad luck’”. (pg. 8, Pam Munoz Ryan) Later that evening, she heard her father was killed. Unlike Mexico, in California, Esperanza neither had his father and nor was anyone’s honor or glory and she had to live a life without him. The only thing that she had from his father was his memories and the little garden filled with Papa’s beautiful roses that before coming to California, Miguel and Alfonso had brought them in Papa’s remembrance.
In Mexico, Esperanza and her family had their own house which was big with lots of servants but in California she was living with Mama sharing a cabin which had two small rooms with small windows, half of that was the kitchen, with eight other people. By losing her father, many issues started to attack them. Their home was burnt by Tio Luis because he aimed to marry Senora Ortega, Esperanza’s mother, but she did not accept. And that was the start to live a life mixed with fear and pain. Finally, they were forced to escape from everything and leave their home, father’s grave, Abuelita, and everything behind. In Mexico, everything was okay and alright but by going to California they had to work on farms, her mother became ill after a strong storm, even for some while Esperanza could not visit her mother. It was very hard for Esperanza but she never lost hope and always reminded herself that “Mama was always supporting me, now it’s my turn to be strong for her.”
To conclude this essay, Esperanza was able to rise above her difficult circumstances by not losing hope and believing in herself. Esperanza’s story teaches us to be flexible while facing the problems and try to keep nourishing our life’s boat when a big strong storm is coming to drown us. Above all, Esperanza’s story emphasizes the human’s power for restarting a destroyed life!

Arzo Hakimi, Grade 10, Pegah High School