My Beloved World: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

During a summer trip to Puerto Rico, Abuelita introduces Sonia to her mother, Bisabuelita Ciriata. Bisabuelita is so old that Sonia is afraid to kiss her. Sonia is accompanying Abuelita on visits to family members in Puerto Rico. It seems to blur the line between city and nature. When she’s little, Sonia accompanies just Abuelita to Puerto Rico. As she gets older, though, Mami agrees to go back to visit. As soon as they exit the airport, Sonia and Mami stop for a fresh coconut while Mami and Titi Aurora, her eldest sister, catch up—though Titi Aurora lives in New York, she visits Puerto Rico more often.

Sonia, Mami, and Junior often stay with Titi Maria, Tío Mayo’s first wife who helped raise Mami. Mami maintained her relationship with Titi Maria after the divorce, and Sonia tries to be like Mami and not lose contact with divorced factions of the family. Mami tries to show off Sonia and Junior to everyone she can. Sonia gorges herself on mangoes and in retrospect, she believes she could do this because was getting a higher dose of insulin than was necessary, which was common then. Even as a child, Sonia recognizes that Puerto Ricans on the island all have better jobs than her family in the Bronx, where there are Puerto Rican nurses but only one Puerto Rican doctor.

Sonia loves visiting Tío Mayo’s panaderia, which is more than just a bakery—his wife also makes lunch for factory workers. Sonia helps with the lunch rush and runs the register when her uncle isn’t around; he doesn’t like women handling money. Since Mami didn’t see much of the island when she was growing up, she makes a point to take Sonia to the beach, to the Parque de Bombas, and the art museum in Ponce. Sotomayor loves the art museum and studies the portraits, wondering who the people are and what the paintings’ stories might be. She knows there’s a lot she doesn’t understand about the paintings.

One day during a visit, Mami announces that they’re going to visit her father. This is shocking, as he left when Mami was born, but he’s in the hospital now. At the hospital, Tío Mayo leads Mami and Sonia to the appropriate bed. Mami’s father looks like Mami, but he’s gaunt. Sonia has many questions but sits to watch. Mami coldly says that she’s Celina, but her father says nothing. Titi Aurora introduces Sonia and then chats to her father. Sonia recognizes that Mami is emotionally wounded. The adult Sonia tells the reader that she thinks of this memory as a cautionary tale—Mami and Mami’s father were never going to heal because they would never acknowledge the hurt and forgive each other. Sonia says that she’s close with Mami now, but this is only because they learned to be close, and they saw the alternative firsthand.