Lola and Beli

I was surprised how much I was reminded of Lola while reading Beli's heartbreaking story.  During Lola's story her grandmother states "when she [Beli] was your age we never got along" (75).  This seemed like a trace of foreshadowing of the similarities between Beli and Lola, as Lola clearly did not get along with Beli either.  However, while reading Beli's story, I could see Lola leading the same life.  Beli was a strong woman, and struggled at her school (just as Lola struggled at hers): "Given the delicacy of the situation, another girl might have adjusted to the polarity of her persona to better fit in, would have kept her head down and survived by ignoring 10.001 barbs directed at her each day by students and staff alike. Not Beli" (83).  Lola eventually found her strength: "Yes, the wildness was in me, yes it kept my heart beating fast all the long day, yes it dance around me while I walked down the stree, yes it let me look boys straight in the face when they stared at me, yes it turned my laugh from a cough into a long wild fever, but I was still scared" (58).  Beli kept an overwhelming grasp on Lola, possibly because she saw the resemblance of herself in her daughter and did not want her making the same mistakes.  Lola did make the same mistake as her mother, but not with the extreme consequences that Beli faced.  Beli ran off with The Gangster, ignoring La Inca and nearly getting herself killed.  Lola ran off to be with Aldo, and she states that she doesn't feel safe or comfortable living with Aldo: "I guess I should count myself lucky that they didn't just decide to bury the hatchet by gangbanging me" (65).  Oscar betrays Lola and helps Beli find her, and in turn Beli tricks Lola into running back, and Lola says that "her smile was like a lion's" (71).  We know that Beli was strong, and manipulative, but Lola's return to her mother may have kept her form going down the same path.