Sometimes, an author uses a single scene to communicate a big idea that the author doesn’t want readers to miss. Pam Muñoz Ryan creates such a scene at the beginning of “Los Aguacates: Avocados.” This scene is brief, but it develops an important theme, or idea about human experience, in the novel and helps to move the plot forward.
Read the opening pages of “Los Aguacates: Avocados” closely again. Then, review the details from the scene listed below before answering a question about what the scene adds to the novel’s plot and themes.
After tying grape canes for days in the cold, foggy weather, Esperanza soaks her tired hands in warm water and realizes something: “She no longer recognized them as her own.” They are so beaten up and swollen that they seem like “the hands of a very old man.” How might this realization make her feel?
Hortensia says that they are “lucky” to have avocados, which are not in season. Friends brought the fruits from Los Angeles. Esperanza is lucky, too, to have Hortensia’s help and friendship. How might Esperanza feel as she watches Hortensia make the lotion, as she did for Mama when they were back in Mexico?
Seeing her hands coated in Hortensia’s homemade avocado lotion brings memories to Esperanza’s mind: Mama’s smooth, soft hands and how quickly she worked with the crochet hook; Mama’s grace and presence; Mama’s bright, confident laughter. What mixed emotions might these memories cause?
A campesina is a girl or woman who works the farms. As Esperanza applies another coat of avocado lotion, she admits the truth: She will never again have hands like those of “a wealthy woman from El Rancho de las Rosas.”
Question
What important idea does Esperanza’s realization about her hands develop? As you respond, think about the long journey she is on as she learns to live without Papa and worries about having to live without Mama and Abuelita.
