Marin
- Meet Marin. (OK, I know we met Marin in the last chapter, but the narrator wasn't quite sure of her name yet.)
- The first thing we learn about Marin is that she has a boyfriend in Puerto Rico. He's unemployed, but she's saving the money she makes selling Avon products and baby-sitting to go back to Puerto Rico and marry him.
- On the other hand, Marin also talks about wanting to get a job downtown so she can wear pretty clothes and maybe meet someone on the subway who will marry her and take her to live in a nice house.
- Louie's parents are probably going to send Marin back to Puerto Rico because they think she's too much trouble.
- Esperanza likes Marin and doesn't want her to go. Marin is her source of info on things like boys, sex, and how to look pretty.
- At night, Marin is allowed out of the house, but only as far as the front yard. The kids sit with her as she listens to the radio, smokes a cigarette, and waits for the boys to pass by and look at her.