When I Was Puerto Rican

Soon, Esmeralda has another sibling when Mami gives birth to her new brother, Raymond. There are now so many children that Mami has to work in order to sustain them all. While preparing for work, she puts on heels and makeup. She asks Esmeralda how she looks. Esmeralda wants to cry. Her mother looks so unnatural, and she hates that she has to dress a certain way just to leave the house, as if the way she had always looked was not good enough to impress anyone.

Mami begins leaving the children with a neighbor named Gloria. Gloria and Esmeralda have enriching and provocative conversations about what it means to be a woman. Then, Gloria moves in with a man and Mami goes without work for two weeks. Afterwards, Mami is talking with Doña Lola when her son, Tato, comes in. Tato is a year older than Esmeralda, and “runs wild.” He constantly pesters Esmeralda to show him her private parts, and he shows her his penis behind a building on the property. She eventually grows so uncomfortable with this that she kicks him in the shin when he grabs her crotch.

As she tries to explain to her mother why Tato is crying, Mami is enraged. She takes a frying pan and beats Esmeralda with it while her siblings watch. She says she can’t ever do that again, and Esmeralda doesn’t know if she means kicking a boy or defending herself. She watches her siblings’ bodies shake with every blow that Mami lands on her.

When Gloria returns, she and Esmeralda have a frank conversation about sex, how babies are made, and what happens when women get their periods. Esmeralda is only ten and says that Mami is always forcing her to be more ladylike, and to sit with her legs crossed. After the discussion, she realizes what Papi and Mami do in order to have conceived her and her siblings. Her feelings about it are ambivalent, but the revelation shakes her because it never previously crossed her mind.

Esmeralda learns something else uncomfortable: society does not approve of what her mother is doing. Mami’s decision to take a job means that the entire family must now deal with the scorn brought on by her choice. Mami is seen as being neglectful to her family, rather than as a strong woman willing to work hard to provide for them. In any event, the job taking care of the other children now falls to Esmeralda.

Drama arrives in the form of a cousin named Jenny. Jenny is spoiled and indulged in nearly every way. After receiving a new bicycle, Jenny agrees to give them all rides. When Raymond wants a ride, Esmeralda is uneasy. She thinks he’s too little and that it’s dangerous. But Raymond does not let her stop him. He quickly falls off of the bike and injures his foot. Esmeralda blames herself. It is her job to look after her siblings, and now one of them is hurt because she did not trust her instincts. The adults, however, all blame Jenny. Chapter 6 ends with the family moving to the city, El Mangle.