Becoming Naomi Leon

For Naomi León, finding her sense of identity is navigated through themes of becoming and belonging. Naomi’s character development, plot development, and dialogue are used to explore this theme.

Blanca Paloma’s arrival catalyzes Naomi’s personal development. Her questions awaken Naomi’s search for identity and challenge her assumptions about who she is. When Naomi takes Blanca to eat with the other children in the library, Blanca comments that it’s like a school club. Naomi reveals her lack of self-esteem and sense of belonging when she internally observes, “I just thought it was where all the leftover kids ate” (57). Blanca also teaches Naomi the power of asking questions, which becomes one of the ways Naomi learns to use her voice and stand up for herself. When she learns that Naomi doesn’t know a lot about her mother and father Blanca says, “You should ask [...] ask lots of questions and you’ll get lots of answers” (55). On her first day, Blanca finds out more about the students who eat lunch in the library than Naomi has ever known. Naomi takes a mental note as she observes, “Blanca was right about asking lots of questions” (58).

Naomi doesn’t feel like she belongs at school because she is quiet and feels like an outsider—even among the outsider kids who eat in the library.