a smart cookie
In this vignette, Esperanza talks about how her mother can do very cool stuff like "...speak two languages. She can sing an opera. She knows how to fix a T.V." On the other hand, she can't do practical things like "She doesn't know which subway train to take to get downtown." This shows the reader that she is educated in some areas while not so much in the others. The reason for the title was that Esperanza's mom dropped out of school because she did not have nice clothes. Now she regrets it and calls herself a smart cookie for dropping out.
I believe that the theme of this vignette is pride and downfall. I believe that the theme of this vignette is pride and downfall because Esperanza's mom said, "You want to know why I quit school? Because I didn't have nice clothes." This shows us that since she wasn't proud of her clothes, she quit school. The other part downfall is also part of the theme because if she hadn't quit school, she would have been making so much money and would've had a good house and a good life and I know that beacuse Esperanza's mom is very smart and she could have had all that if she hadn't quit school.