I would describe my character as a very determined, positive and smart girl, from the beginning towards the ending. In the ending, the main character, Esperanza, describes how she doesn't want to belong and live in the poor latino section of Chicago. She wants to become something of herself.
Throughout the story, Esperanza is more of mother figure to her siblings, telling them right from wrong and worrying about them. So in a way, Esperanza is or already was growing up to fast to try and maintain a motherly figure for her siblings.
Initiations that Esperanza has is like a said before trying to be a motherly figure to her siblings, but not that she doesn't have a mother, but she's in a way trying to grow up too fast, but in another way not really.
What the author is trying to say about childhood is that the kind of neighborhood or environment that you live in can affect how you grow up and the type of living situations that you live in. Sometimes with that kind of situation, it can ruin a part of your childhood, and you miss out on things.
What the author is trying to say about adulthood is that you have to be determined about certain types of things to have a good future,which is also the transfer from childhood to adulthood. To go onto adulthood, you have to become a different person and be more responsible and smart and determined, which is what Esperanza is which made her more determined with that transition from childhood to adulthood.