The monkey garden
In this vignette, Esperanza describes how a family who owned a pet monkey moved to Kentucky and how she was happy that she didn't have to hear the noises anymore. She also describes that the kids from the neighborhood took over the garden after the family and the monkey were gone and how it turned into a fantasy world for the kids. She also described the place as a getaway from their mothers and chores and a place for rest apart from reality. Esperanza just loves it until she gets older. After one experience she would never go there. The experience was how she practically lost Sally as a friend. In it something changed about Sally that Esperanza doesn't quite grasp and she runs to tell Sally's mom. Sally's mom doesn't really care about that and Esperanza pretty much lost Sally as a friend after that point.
I believe that the theme of this vignette is desire to escape and facing darkness. I believe that the theme of this vignette is desire to escape because when they start going to the monkey garden, they leave their reality behind and Esperanza says, "This is where I wanted to die." This shows us that Esperanza is desiring to escape her life in the monkey garden. I also believe that the theme of this vignette is facing darkness because one day she has this experience where Sally changes all of a sudden and she suddenly starts acting more like a person that wants to get married and in that experience, there are a lot of events that just makes me feel that Sally is no longer a friend of Esperanza and that she can't call anybody friends and that she has to move on through life.