Why Women Remain Jamona and Mami Gets a Job Summary and Analysis

In "Why Women Remain Jamona," Esmeralda is taken by her father to spend a week with her grandmother. She is soon involved in a conversation of women who are "jamona," or single past the traditional age of marriage. Esmeralda goes to church with her grandmother who warns her only to think good thoughts on the way to the service. She immediately thinks about a young boy who pushed her, prompting her to push him back though she knows that she's supposed to "turn the other cheek." She says that requiring one to turn the other cheek is "stupid" which makes her immediately realize that she's having another bad thought. When the day comes that her father is supposed to return, Esmeralda waits in her best...