How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
One day you wake up and they are there. Ready and waiting like a new Buick with the keys in the ignition. Ready to take you where? (20.2)
Esperanza seems a bit bewildered by the idea that such a huge transformation as getting hips could occur to her overnight.
Quote #5
What I'm saying is who here is ready? You gotta be able to know what to do with hips when you get them, I say making it up as I go. You gotta know how to walk with hips, practice you know – like if half of you wanted to go one way and the other half the other. (20.10)
Esperanza and her friends don't have hips yet, but they're starting to express interest in the changes they know will happen to their bodies.
Quote #6
Nenny, I say, but she doesn't hear me. She is too many light-years away. She is in a world we don't belong to anymore. (20.34)
Nenny's complete lack of interest in the discussion about hips makes her seem much younger than the other girls – and shows us just how much the other girls are maturing.