Analytical essay My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
There are different circumstances that one may find himself in that dictate the few choices the person will have in regards to different areas of life. There are hardships that a person may go through during the youthful years that will shape the person into making a life that is without these hardships. To other people, they may lose hope in life and move on to become miserable in their respective lives. Sotomayor passed through different heart-breaking and life changing life circumstances. These circumstances were hardships that would have clearly made it hard for a person to remain in the course of achieving what he had planned. However, it was through these hardships and hard times that Sotomayor was able to derive courage and motivation into creating her future in the ways that she desired. She was able to overcome the obstacles that were on her way and she was able to attain goals that were only achievable in her dreams only. The way in which she was able to attain these goals was through breaking the obstacles that were visible to her and making paths where there were no paths. This signifies the importance of optimistic view of situations where the circumstances available point to a hard time where one might easily lose hope in achieving the desired goals.
Sotomayor was able to overcome a life of poverty where they felt virtually being isolated from the world. She had different problems that were constant in her life as she planned to work through to her goals. The most notable problem that Sotomayor went through was her broken family problems. The relationship that she shared between her and her mother was not that straight and she was not at good terms with her mother. Her relationship with her father was one that brought happiness to her. However, this was always rocked by the fact that her dad was an alcoholic. This relationship that she shared with her dad was short-lived as her dad passed on while she was at age nine. Her mother was always reserved and this was a challenge for her since she needed someone to talk to. It was during the later years that she was able to understand why her mother had problems as evidenced in, “It was only when I had the strength and purpose to talk about the cold expanse between us that she confessed her emotional limitations in a way that called me to forgiveness.” This was a really trying time for her and she managed to overcome her problems and went on to create a very good relationship with her mother. She had the hopes that maybe the life after the death of her dad would be easier for them all.
Sotomayor lived in very poor conditions. This happened for a long time as she studied during her primary school years as well as her high school years. In her primary school days, she recalls a particular time when her mother bought them the Encyclopedia Britannica. She says that the book was a rare thing in the neighborhood and only very few people could afford it. Her cousin died of AIDS which he got from an infected syringe. The heroin addiction was one of the big problems in the project houses that they lived in. however, she was able to overlook the problems that surrounded her and in turn she was able to study to the Ivy League schools where she attained her goals of attaining the law education that she had dreamt of. This is seen in her words “People who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible,” Sotomayor 1.
Sotomayor realized at an early age that she had diabetes. At that time, this disease was a scare and it was in her family. She learnt at an early age of seven years how to inject herself with insulin as well as sterilizing the syringe after use. She learnt this after her parents proved to be troublesome when she needed them to be injecting her with the insulin. She was able to brace herself for the risky step of injecting herself since she understood better what she needed to achieve her goals in life.
Upon graduation from Yale Law School, Sonia joined the New York district attorney’s office under Robert Morgenthau. This job was a low job at the time however; the salary paid was more than that paid to her mother who was a nurse at the time. She also had hopes of getting married right from her childhood but as years progressed, she did not find the satisfaction in marriage that she had hoped for and instead she divorced her husband Kevin Noonan amicably. These were circumstances that presented challenges hard enough to make one lose hope in the goals she had. However, she does not lose hope and instead works hard to her future as she becomes a judge.
In conclusion, there were a lot of challenges that were in Sotomayor’s ways but she evaluated her chances of success in her goals and overcame the challenges that were presented to her. There were many heartbreaking circumstances that were presented to her as years progressed but she was able to synthesize a good future out of the hard times that she faced.
Works Cited
Sotomayor, Sonia. My Beloved World. New York: Knopf, 2013. Print.
