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Chapter 7
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
The morning after Sonia screams at Mami, Ana gets Sonia and Junior off to school as usual. When they get home after school, however, Mami is dressed and wearing perfume, the windows are open, and the radio is playing. Sotomayor explains that the difference after Papi died was substantial. Suddenly, the constant conflict ends. Mami still works six days per week, but she doesn’t work to escape. Mami takes over cleaning the house. Sonia doesn’t totally trust her new reality, especially when Mami dates, and it takes her years to get over her anger at Mami. It takes Mami years to get over her chilliness, and she’s never one to get on the floor with her children—it would mess up her dress. Mami is effortlessly stylish and constantly finds fault with Sonia’s clothing choices.
Even though Mami makes this shift to become an involved, caring parent, it’s still important to note that Sonia’s anger toward her mother doesn’t change until much later. There’s more to being a supportive family member, this suggests, than simply cleaning the house and being home after school. It takes work to earn another person’s trust, and it likely doesn’t help that Mami picks at Sonia’s clothing choices. It’s clear, though, that everyone is happier and healthier now, which speaks to the damage that constant conflict can cause.
Themes
Despite her coldness, though, Mami genuinely cares about people and cares for most of the neighborhood as a nurse. However, she also refuses to steal supplies for friends and family from the hospital, and even refuses to steal Sonia’s needles for her insulin. Mami is an exceptional listener and stops to talk with everyone, even a young Korean War vet who spends his day in the shade in his wheelchair. Sonia’s bedroom that she shares with Junior is unbearably hot in the summer. Some nights, when Sonia wakes up drenched in sweat, Mami helps her change the sheets and then sits and sponges Sonia with a cool cloth until Sonia falls asleep.
As an adult writing this memoir, Sonia makes the conscious effort to note and acknowledge all the ways in which Mami cared for her and for her community. This implies that Sonia realizes on some level (or at some point) that Mami is doing the best she can to keep her family and her community going. The fact that Mami cares so much for her community suggests that unlike Abuelita, Mami has a broad definition of what makes people worth caring about.
Themes
Though Mami recovers after Papi’s death, Abuelita never does. She wears black and never throws another party. Her eyesight begins to go so especially after she moves to the projects, she seldom goes out. Bisabuelita dies not long after Papi does and Sonia’s aunts believe that if Papi, the beloved firstborn, could die, Abuelita must believe that nothing is safe. When Gallego dies of Parkinson’s a few years later, Abuelita moves immediately to a senior home.
The difference in how Mami and Abuelita deal with Papi’s death speaks to the different ways that grief can affect people—and it may reflect that Abuelita didn’t have to deal with the day-to-day reality of living with Papi and Mami. She’s mourning the loss of her beloved son, while Mami is able to recover from the loss of her beloved husband who also made her life miserable.
Themes
Sonia’s fourth grade teacher is unusually kind and doesn’t reprimand Sonia at all between Papi’s death and the end of the school year. By the time that Sonia starts fifth grade in the fall, school is something to look forward to. Before this, Sonia hadn’t understood what was going on. Though spending her summer reading helped, Mami also begins speaking English at home and this helps immensely. Later, Mami shares that teachers had asked that parents speak English at home when Sonia was in kindergarten, but it isn’t easy until after Papi’s death—Sonia isn’t sure he spoke any English. Few others of Mami and Papi’s generation or older speak much English.
Sonia recognizes that Mami’s shift to speaking English at home is a major gift—and it’s one she wouldn’t have gotten had Papi not died. This allows Sonia to see just how much she owes her success to random shifts in circumstance. More broadly, though, she discovers that her issues in school as a younger kid didn’t have to do with her intelligence. She just didn’t know what was going on.
Themes
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Mami insists that Sonia and Junior receive an education; it is, according to her, the only way to get ahead. To help, Mami purchases Encyclopedia Britannica. However, she also puts Sonia in ballet, piano, and guitar, all of which are disasters. Guitar is a disaster because bullies block the way to their teacher, so Alfred insists on teaching Sonia self-defense. He shouts at Sonia and Junior like a drill sergeant and slaps Sonia, but Sonia still quits the guitar lessons.
Mami’s ideas about education may also contribute to the sense that she’s the black sheep in Abuelita’s family. It’s possible that other family members see that Mami wants her children to grow up differently from the way they did—and they may view this as an insult to how they grew up and how they live their lives.
Themes
The final reason why Sonia starts doing better in school is because her fifth grade teacher puts gold stars next to the names of excellent students. This unleashes Sonia’s competitive spirit, but she has no study skills. She asks one of the smartest kids in class how she studies. Donna Renella shares that she underlines important facts when she’s reading, takes notes, and rereads chapters before the test. Sonia learns through this experience that it’s always helpful to ask for help from a friend or acquaintance. Soon, Sonia is one of the best students. Junior struggles in school, though he studies hard, and Mami takes the generous view that he’ll get there in time. Mami never pushes her children to do better, as Tío Benny does with Nelson. She simply trusts her children and tells them that whatever they do, they must do it well.
Though Sonia has always been the sort to apply herself and work hard, adding the element of competition makes doing so even more appealing. However, even as Sonia calls on her competitive nature, she never forgets that she can’t do anything alone—she’ll inevitably need help, this time from Donna Renella. Mami’s trust also helps, as it means that Sonia feels like she’s totally in control of her academics and her future.
Themes
On the first Christmas without Papi, Alfred helps Sonia carry a tree home. Papi always chose perfect trees; Alfred and Sonia’s tree turns out to be very crooked. Sonia decorates, but no matter how hard she tries, she can’t figure out how Papi strung the lights and hid the wires. Mami is no help. Sonia thinks that nothing good ever came to anyone who tried to figure out Papi’s tricks. One year, she discovered Papi’s stash of presents and found the TV. She excitedly begged Papi to watch it early, but Papi’s disappointment was heartbreaking. Eventually, Sonia finishes the tree. She thinks it’d be nice to have a hug from Papi. She misses him and knows he loved them, even though he made their lives miserable.
It’s understandable that a holiday like Christmas would bring up memories of Papi and turn the holiday into a more emotional event than it might be otherwise. But for Sonia, it’s not just emotional; thinking of Papi and Christmas allows her to internalize some of the lessons she learned from him. This reminds her that life with Papi wasn’t all fear and anxiety. Possibly unbeknownst to Papi, he still taught her the importance of respecting others and doing a job well.
Themes
