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 1990, Sonia joins Alessandro and Fe in London for a Boxing Day celebration. When she returns to work, her office is empty of her papers. There’s an application form for a federal judge position on her desk. Sonia races with it to Dave’s office. He explains that it’s from Senator Moynihan’s judicial selection committee and promises to give Sonia her files back if she fills it out. The application is extensive, but Dave gives Sonia his assistant and a paralegal to help. It takes a week to complete it and detail every bit of her life. The committee will use the application to investigate Sonia’s past for ethical issues. The committee quickly schedules an interview, which Sonia preps for feverishly. In her preparations, she discovers that it’s unusual to become a judge in one’s 30s but not impossible.
Dave’s willingness to give Sonia so much help with the application speaks to his willingness to support Sonia on her journey to become a judge. It also speaks to the collaborative and supportive nature of the firm in general—the people there want to see their own succeed, and so they’re more than willing to throw valuable resources at any problem that comes their way. This also reminds Sonia that while her tenacity and determination are her own, she can’t do things like this by herself. No matter what she does, she’ll always need help of some sort.
Themes
Sonia’s interview takes place in a downtown law firm. She answers questions with ease until someone asks if she thinks it’ll be hard to learn to be a judge. She says that she’s spent her life learning to do hard things, and she always succeeds. The committee is impressed with what she tells them about the Tarzan Murderer and child pornography cases. Though Sonia acknowledges that she has gaps in her knowledge, she points out that it’s always possible to look things up. Not long after, Senator Moynihan’s office invites Sonia to meet him in Washington. Senator Moynihan is easy to talk to and their conversation meanders. After an hour, he asks to nominate her. He warns that it might take a while with the Bush administration, but promises to get her through. She accepts.
For Sonia, the question of whether it’ll be hard to be a judge is almost silly—her entire life has been hard, and in some ways, the entire point of her life has been to overcome adversity and succeed. Becoming a judge, if the committee and the president accept her application, will be no different. This makes it clear, too, that Sonia’s education is far from over. As a judge, she’ll have to learn yet another way of thinking and conducting herself so she can best perform her job.
Themes
By this point, Mami and Omar have been together for several years. Sonia invites them over to share the news. Mami reacts with enthusiasm until she learns that Sonia won’t make more money, won’t travel, and won’t be able to socialize with interesting people. Mami is incredulous, but Omar reminds her that this must be important work. Sonia sits back to wait for the political process. Fortunately, Senator Moynihan has an agreement with his Republican counterpart to allow him to nominate judges, despite there being a Republican president. It takes 18 months of interviews and waiting. A number of Latinx organizations rise up to support Sonia, as she’d be the first Hispanic federal judge in New York. Numerous colleagues, including Bob Morgenthau, offer to talk to the right people.
Though Bob Morgenthau is the only person she names, the fact that so many former colleagues and bosses offer to put in a good word for her speaks to Sonia’s ability to form positive relationships with everyone. In a way, her desire to bring everyone into her inner circle makes becoming a judge much easier, as she has a bunch of people willing to advocate for her. With this, she suggests that it’s not just for one’s personal fulfillment that people should fill their lives with interesting, supportive people. Those people can—and will—move mountains to help.
Themes
In August 1992, the U.S. Senate confirms Sonia’s nomination. Her public induction ceremony in October is moving and humbling, as she recognizes that the role of a judge is far more important than she is as an individual. She once again feels as though she’s in an alternate reality. This is heightened when Sonia moves to Manhattan to follow the rule that judges live in their jurisdiction. Dawn is aghast. Mami, meanwhile, decides to move to Florida with Omar right after Sonia’s induction.
Becoming a judge is a testament to Sonia’s perseverance and her ability to set concrete, achievable goals for herself—and then throw herself into working to achieve them. When she insists on moving so she’s following all the rules, it shows that her childhood sense of right and wrong is still alive and well—and is probably part of the reason she’s a judge at all.
Themes
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Before Mami and Omar finish their drive to Florida, though, Sonia gets a call from Puerto Rico that Titi Aurora died. Titi Aurora moved to Puerto Rico to put her second husband in a nursing home and had recently fought bitterly with Mami over Mami’s move to Florida. Sonia knows she has to tell Mami in person and wonders what bound Mami and Titi Aurora to each other. Thinking about their relationship, Sonia realizes that people are imperfect, but everyone brings something meaningful to a relationship. When Sonia arrives at Mami’s apartment, Mami already heard the news. They fly to Puerto Rico together.
Even through her grief over Titi Aurora’s death, Sonia can still come up with lessons that will help her going forward. In this case, she reminds herself that everyone—herself included—is imperfect, but that doesn’t mean that people shouldn’t have close, meaningful relationships with others. And now that Sonia and Mami have become so close, Sonia knows that she has to do the right thing and go to Mami in person. This is how she can show Mami she cares and understands.
Themes
Theresa follows Sonia from Pavia & Harcourt and is a reassuring presence. For Sonia’s first month as a judge, she’s terrified of her own courtroom. At first, she solves this by holding everything she can in her chambers. But finally, a case comes to trial and Sonia has to preside over the courtroom. Her knees knock, just like they did when she first read the Bible in church. She begins to ask questions and her panic disappears.
When Sonia’s first experience as a judge in a courtroom mirrors her first experience reading in church, it shows that not much changes—but as always, Sonia can turn to her curiosity and get over her fear. She can, and will, continue to better herself by remaining curious about the world around her.
Themes
