Response to "The Family of Little Feet"

     I was so surprised on Friday when the majority of my students discussed their distaste for Esperanza's negativity and self-consciousness. They see her as constantly complaining about her looks, her name, her feet, her hair.  But to me, Esperanza's language is always layered and symbolic.  She might be describing her hair on the surface, but what she's really describing is her love for her mother ("Hairs.")  While she might seem displeased with her name, what she's really attempting to negotiate is her heritage as a Latina American ("My Name").


In "The Family of Little Feet," I feel Esperanza is once again talking about more than feet, and instead is offering up a gritty fable, a poetically un-poetic coming of age story. Little girls Nenny, Lucy, Rachel and Esperanza experiment with fashion and femininity to realize the world is a darker place where sex is traded for money, and feminine dress can be viewed as shameful and not just expressive.  After the hobo incident, Esperanza says, "We are tired of being beautiful" (42). These young girls are at an age where they can delay the double standards of sexuality and female objectification; however, now they are aware of the innocence they must trade for their approaching womanhood.