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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Beloved World, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Optimism, Determination, and Adversity
Family and Friendship
Education and Learning
Puerto Rican Identity and Culture
Morality, Justice, and Giving Back
Summary
Analysis
In the spring of 1980, not long after Sonia starts at the DA’s Office, Bob Morgenthau encourages her to join the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF). Though Sonia feels stretched thin, she believes in the group’s mission and agrees. The organization is made up of experienced professionals. It wins victories that help thousands of people by expanding voting rights or striking down discriminatory hiring practices. Sonia works on the litigation and education committees, which hire staff lawyers and develops LSAT materials for Latino students. Through her involvement, she learns the work of politics.
It’s telling that no matter where Sonia goes, she finds a way to give back. As a professional, she can continue the line of work she did with Acción Puertorriqueña by working on improving Latinx people’s chances of getting into law school (the LSAT is a test that law schools use to vet applicants). The idea that she learns politics through this suggests that she’s learning how to connect with more people and make connections that will help her in the future.
Themes
Things come to a head when the staff lawyers strike. Sonia sympathizes with them, but she understands that she has a duty to protect the organization financially. She learns that it’s fine to support the little guy, but she suggests that the little guy will still fail if the larger organization is neglected. She sees this firsthand a year later, when Prospect Hospital goes bankrupt and Mami loses her job. It destroys the entire neighborhood, and Sonia wonders what the hospital could’ve done to stay afloat.
Through her work with PRLDEF, Sonia learns the importance of looking at the bigger picture and not just the individuals involved in a given issue. By looking at the larger picture, she seems to suggest, it’s possible to save entire neighborhoods, like her own in the Bronx. This is one of the bigger-picture ways that she discovers she can give back and help others.
Themes
Working with PRLDEF is Sonia’s first experience doing pro bono work. She serves for 12 years until she becomes a judge. She also gets involved with the State of New York Mortgage Agency, which helps make mortgages available to working-class families. Though Sonia supports the mission, she knows that even Mami wouldn’t qualify for a loan with them. She especially likes working on issues that affect her Puerto Rican community, such as education and economic development. However, she also sees that no group is an island—she must work for everyone. To do this, she joins New York City’s Campaign Finance Board. She loves that it seeks to squash corruption by creating rules, and it provides room to compromise. Because Sonia always registers as an independent, she gains a reputation as a good mediator. Through these organizations, Sonia meets politicians who eventually make her a judge.
Even though Sonia supports the mission of the New York Mortgage Agency, she still sees that it’s not perfect by any means. Being able to notice these imperfections allows Sonia to channel her energies into making them better, even if she never gets this particular organization to the point where Mami would qualify for a loan. Her affinity for working on issues that affect the Puerto Rican community reflect what she learned in school and through her own experience—it’s important to make sure that kids like her have access to education, and it’s important to make sure that adults in the community are able to support their families.
Themes
