Previous
Chapter 5
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
Though Sonia is relieved that her parents aren’t fighting anymore, she soon becomes confused: she doesn’t understand grief, either her own or Mami’s. Every day, Sonia and Junior get home to a dark apartment. Mami emerges from her bedroom to cook dinner and then returns to her bedroom. Junior and Sonia do homework and watch TV. Sonia is only able to rouse Mami for grocery shopping on weekends, but Sonia worries that Mami won’t know what to do with the ingredients she puts in the cart. Sonia isn’t the only one worried about Mami. Ana and some friends try to get Father Dolan from Blessed Sacrament to visit Mami, but he refuses on the grounds that Mami doesn’t attend church. This enrages Sonia, since Mami works to send her to school and always sends money with Sonia for the offering basket.
Even though Mami goes with Sonia to shop for groceries, Sonia is the one leading these shopping expeditions—she still has a lot of responsibility for a child. And this in turn is even more confusing for Sonia, since she believed that Papi’s death would suddenly free her from these burdens. Again, it’s possible to pick out Sonia’s early interest in fairness and justice when she gets so upset about Father Dolan’s refusal to visit. As she grapples with these injustices and inequities, Sonia begins to develop her own sense of right and wrong.
Themes
A week later, a friend’s Baptist pastor agrees to visit Mami. Sonia is impressed that the pastor speaks Spanish and she’s glad he tries. Mami stays in her room long into summer vacation. Anxious, Sonia feels like she needs to stay close to home, so she spends her summer reading. Mami subscribes to Highlights for Sonia and Junior and Reader’s Digest for herself, and Sonia reads Digest and combs through the card catalogue at the library. Her favorite book comes from Dr. Fisher. It’s a heavy book of Greek gods and heroes, and Sonia thinks they’re versions of Abuelita’s spirits. The immortals are even more compelling than comic book characters. Sonia never gives back the book.
Sonia’s belief that she needs to stay home is tragic—she’s nine years old and shouldn’t need to feel this kind of responsibility toward her family. However, out of this adversity comes Sonia’s love of reading and her speedy progress, as she quickly transitions from reading Highlights (a magazine for kids) to a heavy book of Greek gods. Adversity may rob Sonia of her childhood in some ways, but it nevertheless gives her the tools she needs to succeed later in her adult life.
Themes
Normally, Sonia can figure out what’s going on when people are upset. Mami, however, gives no clues as to what’s wrong. As far as Sonia is concerned, Mami and Papi did nothing but fight; she never saw them happy. Thus, Mami’s grief seems irrational. Abuelita’s pain is less odd, but the parties, séances, and gambling end. Sonia is a rational child, so she doesn’t understand why the parties stop when Papi never came anyway and seemed to have a poor relationship with Abuelita. She figures that everyone is so upset because they feel guilty for not interceding, and she theorizes that Papi’s death may have been Mami’s fault—but she notes that the family believes that women are responsible for everything men do. Regardless, one day, Sonia pounds on Mami’s door and tells Mami to stop. Then, she sobs.
Sonia’s attempts to rationalize the grief of her family members speaks to how poorly equipped she is to deal with difficult emotions. While this is understandable—she’s a child, after all—the conclusions she draws contain little nuance and don’t leave any room for everything that Sonia doesn’t know about her parents and their families. Her theory that everyone feels guilty for not stepping in may make it seem to Sonia as though families have a duty to step in and help in situations where there’s substance abuse at play, something that will become important later in her life.
Themes
