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Chapter 9
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
One night, as Sonia does homework in front of the TV, Mami and her friends arrive to watch The Ed Sullivan Show. They give Mami a hard time for letting Sonia and Junior do homework in front of the TV, but Mami insists that the kids can do what they want if they get good grades. Sonia tells the reader that she really just has the TV on for background noise and can work with all sorts of distractions. She perks up and blushes when she hears the women talking about a man that Mami wants to date. Sonia isn’t innocent—her friends are starting to gossip and kiss—but she’s not there yet. Fortunately, the most popular boy at school, Carmelo, befriends Sonia and keeps others from bullying her.
As Sonia befriends Carmelo, she begins to see that friends can serve all sorts of purposes. Carmelo keeps Sonia from being trampled in the school pecking order. This gives her the room to celebrate her love of academics, or at least not be punished for it by her peers. Mami’s insistence that Sonia and Junior can study however they like illustrates another way that people can support each other: by giving them the freedom to make their own choices.
Themes
Sonia’s friends often hang out at her apartment. Mami makes everyone feel at home, lets Sonia throw parties, and loves being able to keep an eye on everyone. Junior remains obnoxious. When Sonia is in seventh grade, Junior is big enough that Sonia recognizes she won’t win their physical fights anymore. She insists that they talk things out and blackmail each other—so they take to tattling and often call Mami at the hospital to do so. Now, as a boss, Sotomayor always allows her employees to take calls from children; she believes it’s essential if women are to feel welcome in the workplace. Over time, Sonia and Junior become extremely close.
Sonia recognizes just how valuable it was that Mami was able to take her calls when she and Junior were kids—it made her feel as though she could work and didn’t always need to be home to supervise. Now that Sonia is an adult and an employer, she’s able to do more than simply recognize this. She can put it into practice and make the workplace more welcoming for women and parents. This is a small thing she can do to make the world a fairer place.
Themes
Sonia realizes that if she wants to be a lawyer or a judge, she needs to learn to speak confidently in front of people. So when the church she attends with Titi Aurora asks for volunteers to read the Bible, Sonia volunteers. Her first time reading is terrifying. She shakes and feels ready to vomit, but she makes it through and knows she can do it again. Blessed Sacrament creates an eighth grade yearbook and asks outgoing eighth graders to write their “last will and testament” about their middle school life. Sisters write back with a “prophecy” for each student. The Sisters are discouraging for most of the students, though many students do go on to great heights. Surprisingly, though, the Sister who writes Sonia’s prophecy expresses hope that she’ll achieve her dreams of becoming an attorney and marrying.
Once again, Sonia is very cognizant of her strengths and weaknesses, and what she does and doesn’t know—and rather than shying away from her weak spots, she confronts them head-on. It’s also important, though, to note that Sonia never suggests that she feels out of place at church, at least when she attends Titi Aurora’s church. The church community in this sense becomes its own kind of supportive family. And despite the difficulties Sonia has at Blessed Sacrament, the Sisters still acknowledge Sonia’s dreams and express hope that she’ll achieve them.
Themes
