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
Sonia is only seven when she’s diagnosed with diabetes. While her family sees it as a “deadly curse,” for her, it’s just a threat to her childhood—which is already at risk due to Papi’s alcoholism and Mami’s reaction to it. However, living with this adversity leads Sonia to develop a sense of self-sufficiency. She insists that she’s not self-made, though; she has always had support from friends and family. Sonia’s family lives within blocks of each other in the Bronx. Most of them immigrated to New York City in 1944. She plays with her cousins and everyone speaks primarily Spanish. Sonia finds her little brother, Junior, obnoxious and torments him. At school, though, she defends him.
Already, Sonia makes it clear that there are advantages to growing up in adverse circumstances. Having to constantly look out for her own wellbeing at home allows her to practice in a situation that she insists wasn’t actually all that dangerous—it just seemed that way. It’s also important that she notes how supportive her family is. It’s not just her tenacity that gets her through; it’s the fact, for instance, that she and Junior can fight so intensely at home and then defend each other in public. Being able to do both of these things, she suggests, is what creates a strong family.
Themes
Junior is born when Sonia is three, and Sonia's family moves to a new public housing project 10 minutes from their old apartment. Mami thinks the projects are safer and cleaner than the tenements, but Abuelita is shocked and angry, because she thinks the projects are isolated. Sonia knows her family is isolated, but that’s because of Papi’s drinking. No one visits except for Alfred, who is Titi Aurora’s son and Sonia’s cousin. Alfred is much older than Sonia and the family relies on him, as he often drives since Papi refuses. When Papi gets home from work, he always cooks dinner and it’s always wonderful. After dinner, though, he leaves dishes in the sink and goes to his bedroom until it’s time to send Sonia and Junior to bed.
Given the way that Sonia describes Mami’s reasoning, it’s clear that Mami is trying to do the right thing for her family. Abuelita’s reaction, meanwhile, suggests that Abuelita prizes extended family loyalty over the health and safety of individual family units. It’s telling, then, that it’s Mami’s side of the family who steps in to help Sonia’s immediate family out. Mami’s family and Papi’s family likely have very different definitions of what it means to be a family and support each other through hard times.
Themes
Mami copes by working the night shift at Prospect Hospital and by dropping the children off with family members when she’s not working. Papi’s neglect makes Sonia sad—she knows he can’t help himself—but Mami’s neglect makes Sonia angry. Mami is always elegant, chooses to work, and insists on sending Mami and Junior to Catholic school. Sonia expects more from her mother. The environment at home makes Sonia a watchful child, and she frequently eavesdrops on adult conversations. Often, as she listens to Abuelita and her aunts, she hears them blame Mami for Papi’s drinking. Sonia explains that Abuelita is extremely loyal to blood family, so the in-laws sometimes suffer. Abuelita’s constant picking at Mami is hard for Sonia to understand, especially since she’s also angry with Mami.
It’s worth noting that many of the things Sonia resents Mami for—working, sending her to Catholic school, moving the family to the projects—are the very things that put Sonia in a better position to receive a good education. But as a child, Sonia doesn’t yet have the maturity to take the long view, and her immaturity means that she’s also not able to fully articulate her feelings about Mami, especially in light of Abuelita’s anger. Though Sonia’s family is supportive, she makes it clear that such support can be conditional.
Themes
One day, when Papi is sick and Mami takes him to the hospital, Tío Benny and another uncle pick up Junior and Sonia. They talk about how Sonia’s apartment is a “pigsty” and Sonia burns with shame. After this, she makes a point to clean the apartment and to make Papi buy milk when they shop on Fridays. This is because Papi and Mami’s biggest fight is over milk—one night, Papi’s hands shake so badly that he continually spills milk. Because Papi was trying to pour milk for Sonia, she feels guilty.
Family may be there to make sure that Junior and Sonia are cared for, but again, this doesn’t mean that Sonia’s family is unequivocally good and supportive. Because Sonia wants to earn the respect of the rest of the family, she takes on far more responsibility than a young child should have to.
Themes
Get the entire My Beloved World LitChart as a printable PDF.
