When I Was Puerto Rican

Esmeralda is a feisty, independent child. She loves music, her friends, and her family. Her entry into the adult world comes through her observations of her parents—both their fighting and their love—and through how often she is forced to move. She rarely feels settled. After moving to New York, she is struck by how much she misses the open spaces of Puerto Rico. Once she arrives in the city, she is finally supported by mentor figures and discovers a career path

Esmeralda’s father. He is usually presented as having good intentions. However, he is unreliable and often selfish. Despite giving Mami seven children, he refuses to marry her, eventually letting her take the children to New York rather than marry her. After his children move to New York, Esmeralda learns that he has remarried. She says that he is dead to her, but Mami says that the children must never forget him. Papi is not shown to have many redeemable qualities beyond an occasional willingness to provide for and entertain the children during his irregular visits. 

Mami loves her children, but is often harsh and occasionally abusive. She is responsible for many of the ideas Esmeralda forms about women, but they are not always positive.