By Jennica Mendoza

The American Dream has long been a concept that has unified immigrants from various cultures around the world into a country where hard work is seen as a path (and sometimes a guarantee) to success. In Esperanza Rising (2000), author Pam Munoz Ryan challenges the traditional rags-to-riches American Dream narrative. Ryan tells the story of a young Mexican-American girl who rises above her own predicaments in such a way that teaches perseverance and hope.  

In the beginning of the story, Esperanza Ortega lives in luxury: her family owns a large ranch full of servants in Mexico, and she attends a prestigious private school. A series of tragic events soon cause her and her family to move to California during the Great Depression. There, Esperanza endures the harsh labor of immigrant farmers and faces the unsettling issues in the United States that deal with both race and class. A Mexican proverb introduced in the story reads, “The rich person is richer when he becomes poor, than the poor person when he becomes rich.” This proverb poignantly captures the premise of the novel: Esperanza Ortega’s life begins in privilege and then suddenly turns into poverty, but she overcomes her hardships.

As a second generation immigrant, my personal story deeply resonates with the themes in Esperanza Rising. At an early age, my family instilled in me the value of education as the path to a better life. Growing up in California, I began to recognize a connection between race and class, and the disparities in the American education system.

When I read Esperanza Rising, I learned for the first time of the Mexican Repatriation— a mass deportation of about a million Mexicans, some of whom were US citizens, during the Great Depression. As I read how Esperanza witnessed the tension between the poor farmers and strikers, I thought of my own coming-of-age moment when I questioned how savage inequalities could exist in a country where every individual has an equal opportunity to succeed as long as he or she works hard.

Throughout my reading, I assumed that Esperanza would eventually become wealthy again in the traditional rags-to-riches route. The ending, however, challenged how I viewed wealth, happiness, and my own American Dream. Esperanza rises, but in an unexpected way. She becomes a hardworking, resilient young woman. She remains loyal to family and challenges a power structure that oppresses the poor and ethnic minorities. Most of all, Esperanza shows that hope can come from unlikely places and dares readers to rise.

“Out of poverty, poetry; Out of suffering, song.” – Mexican Poem