Beautiful & Cruel
- Esperanza isn't like the other girls in her neighborhood, including her sister. Boys don't pay attention to her. She feels ugly, untamed, and unattractive to men.
- In the movies, Esperanza says, there's always a beautiful woman who attracts all the men with her red lips. She never gives in to any of their amorous advances, though – her sex appeal gives her power, and she's not giving it away.
- Esperanza says that she's "begun [her] own quiet war" (35.5). Her strategy involves acting with the carefree, uninhibited attitude of a man.