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Lisandra Contreras

Professor Batty

English 101

7 May 2018

Self Esteem is an Element for Change and Fulfillment Presented To Us By Life

The common topic of confidence and self esteem is known by everyone. During

adolescence years the experience of high and low self esteem can come to be in new lengths.

Lengths that may desire a need for growth. Feelings and thoughts may feel more sensitive on an

adolescent's evolving self-esteem. However these are challenges we are able to experience so

that we may learn, develop, change and fulfill ourselves. Writer Alex Espinoza illustrates a clear

example of such. In his novel, ​Still Water Saints, ​he writes about Rosa Cabrera who starts off as

a sixteen year old adolescent who experiences low confidence in herself. Her nature of holding

more pounds than most other girls her age is a cause for others to share their opinions on her

body. All the opinions (including her mother’s) Rosa has experienced about her sacred body

have become degrading to her. And so, as time passes on Rosa’s confidence in herself fluctuates

revealing the challenge of self esteem. The story continues and through time Rosa is older and

appears much more confident in herself than she once had. One can come to know the meaning

of the story of Rosa Cabrera’s time with a low self esteem. The message is that through time we

may become aware, change and fulfill ourselves from the challenges life presents to each of us.

The intensity self esteem can impose on oneself is tremendous. And Rosa Cabrera was

definitely not left out of that experience. A part of the story that helps us know that Rosa has a

low self esteem is: “‘Do you got a boyfriend?’ “No.’ ‘Really?’ ‘Really.’ ‘That surprises me.
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You’re way pretty.’ I think about my wide thighs that remind me of tree trunks, my blouse

stretched out so far that buttons look like they're about to come undone. I think about Blanca.

Always wanting to do my makeup and nails. ‘Why are you so quiet for?’ Miguel Angel asks,

looking over at me. ‘Just because” (Espinoza 19). Here Rosa is her jobsite when her coworker

Miguel Angel complements her. It does not seem like Rosa full fledged and confidently took the

compliment. Rosa recalls her body and doubts the compliment. Espinoza shows a message

through Miguel Ángel here as well. That message is that though an individual may not be a

society’s idealistic version of an attractive body, they are still beautiful and worthy of being

appreciated. Miguel Ángel is an example to follow for all those who get to know him in ​Still

Water Saints​.

Espinoza illustrates another purpose of Rosa’s story when he mentions her time with

Miguel Angel. Espinoza says, “He stands in front of me, his bare and shuffling across the

hardwood floor. ‘Come on, Rosa.’ ‘I don’t know how to dance.’ ‘You promised,’ he shouts over

the music. ‘You told me on Wednesday that you’d dance with me today. Take off your shoes.’ ‘I

never promised you anything.’ ‘Stop being shy. Come on.’ His hands beckon me. I kick my

shoes off, pull down my socks, and stand…’You’re afraid. You’re trembling.’ ‘I’m fine’ (25).

She is not outgoing to dance at first. Here Miguel excitingly invites Rosa to dance. You can note

the insecurity Rosa had in herself because she denies getting up and dancing. She does not have

faith in her ability to do the less familiar; dancing. This is an example of her lower self esteem.

This may not sound inspiring at first but the message of this experience becomes clearer after

Miguel Angel tries to encourage Rosa to get out of her comfort zone. We can learn that through

pushing yourself out of your comfort zone into what might seem unfamiliar or scary, we can
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grow and change ourselves. And Rosa bravely does so. She faces her doubts and confidently

stands up to dance with Miguel Angel to music she is not that familiar with either. Espinoza’s

message is clear; one will face dark feelings and thoughts towards oneself but to overcome them

you must face them. And here Rosa did just that. She faced the insecure feeling and helped

herself to become more confident in herself.

Espinoza shares another important message through the story of Rosa. That message is

that even though one goes through moments of low self esteem one should still try to have the

value to stand assertive for oneself. Rosa shows herself as having an assertive demeanor when

Espinoza writes “‘You don’t gotta listen to the words. Just the music. Come on. You can see I’m

a perfect gentleman. Didnt try nothing today.’ ‘Fine. But don’t think I don’t know how to take

care of myself’” (23). Here Miguel Ángel begins talking to Rosa after their get together. Rosa

knowing that she does not want to be taken care of, warns Miguel Ángel confidently. What made

Rosa say this is interesting. I believe Rosa’s experience of her mother, sister and even Perla

suggesting to Rosa different ways to help herself has lead her to believe this. Her mother by

suggesting a healthy diet, workout tapes, going to Perla for slimming teas and suggesting the Las

Gloria's Market job so Rosa because according to her Mom “what [Rosa] really needed was to be

on [her] feet, moving around more” (Espinoza 16).

Rosa story illustrates another moral we can learn from. It is that mothers (and any other

to which it should apply to) should be more aware of all of the true state of others. In Rosa’s case

her mother was not acting on all the truth that her actions had on Rosa. While her mother in a

way was trying to help Rosa with her low confidence by giving her tips to lose weight, she was

not completely helping Rosa. Rosa’s mom wanted to help Rosa become confident in her body.
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However her actions did not truly help her to do so. Rosa's mom was trying to change Rosa’s

body so she can have a higher self esteem and love herself more. But it shows that that truly does

not work. We could learn with Rosa’s mother that changing your body is not what will lead to

truly loving yourself. What would have helped Rosa and that Rosa’s mom should have done to

truly help Rosa is to help her become aware that her body does not define her worth. And help

Rosa realize that no matter what her body may look like, she still holds all the worth in the world

for who she is within and for those reasons she may love herself and in turn have a higher self

esteem with more confidence. Rosa’s mom’s power on Rosa’s self esteem is true and powerful.

That is one more reason that we see a lower self esteem in Rosa. Rosa’s mom would constantly

tell Rosa what to do in hopes of seeing her lose weight. Because according to Rosa’s mom her

issue was her being overweight and if she lost weight she could move on to being more

confident. And according to Rosa’s mom she knows the struggle of more pounds and can figure

what Rosa is going through. “​Nevertheless, status characteristics are less powerful predictors of

body image than parental assessments, which have a stronger effect on females than males”

(Levison, Powell, Steelman 1).

Michael H. Kernis is a researcher in the field of psychology who draws a knowledgeable

understanding of low self esteem. A definition that can be seen to know Rosa. Through

understanding Rosa as much as we can with knowledge we may be more able to clearly

conceptualize her message and story. Furthermore, Kernis describes his knowledge of low

self-esteem “Moreover, other influential research has shown that low self-esteem individuals

possess low self-concept clarity (Campbell, 1990; Campbell e.t. al., 1996), that is, that their

self-concepts lack internal consistency and temporal stability and are held with little confidence”
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(Kernis 2003). From this we can infer how Rosa has acted in a low self-esteem manner. Rosa

said “I don’t know how to dance” (Espinoza 25). Here proves that Rosa does go through a

struggle and then overcomes it. Rosa said she did not know how to dance. This shows, just as

Kernis mentioned, a part of Rosa feeling like she does not know how to perform something.

Knowing that Rosa goes through a challenge is part of the message of the story. The complete

message is knowing that Rosa goes through a challenge and was able to overcome.

By knowing that Rosa goes through a challenge and overcomes that challenge we may move

forward to applying it to ourselves. A message of hope is known through Rosa’s story. Rosa

pushed her limits to explore new boundaries, got encouragement and support from others in

doing so and from within herself she was able to know more than low confidence, change and

fulfill herself over time as seen in her when she stands assertive and confident. Over time may

we all know what the meaning clearly means.

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Works Cited

Elliott, Marta. “Impact of Work, Family, and Welfare Receipt on Women's Self-Esteem in

Young Adulthood.” Social Psychology Quarterly, vol. 59, no. 1, 1996, pp. 80–95. JSTOR,

JSTOR, ​www.jstor.org/stable/2787120​.

Espinoza, Alex. ​Still Water Saints: a Novel​. Picador, 2013.

“Self-Esteem.” ​CMHC Self Esteem​, cmhc.utexas.edu/selfesteem.html

Kernis, Michael H. “Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem.” Psychological

Inquiry, vol. 14, no. 1, 2003, pp. 1–26. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1449033.