Quote 49
She is the one who told us how Davey the Baby's sister got pregnant and what cream is best for taking off moustache hair and if you count the white flecks on your fingernails you can know how many boys are thinking of you and lots of other things I can't remember now. (11.3)
Marin becomes a source of feminine knowledge for Esperanza. They sit in the front yard and have girl talk – sharing the kind of information that only women know in this society.
Quote 50
And then his girlfriend came. Lois I heard him call her. She is tiny and pretty and smells like baby's skin. […] She's got big girl hands, and her bones are long like ladies' bones, and she wears makeup too. But she doesn't know how to tie her shoes. I do. (28.2)
Esperanza is comparing herself to Lois in this passage. She perceives Lois to be more feminine, and thus more attractive, than she is – but Esperanza takes comfort in the fact that she possesses more practical knowledge than Lois does.
Quote 51
All at once she bloomed. Huge, enormous, beautiful to look at, from the salmon-pink feather on the tip of her hat down to the little rosebuds of her toes. I couldn't take my eyes off her tiny shoes. (30.4)
Mamacita is a vision of femininity. Here, she's a vision – a spectacle to be looked at.