By Apostolos Cominos

Beli when she attends El Redentor is rejected by her peers because she is a lower class, black girl in a predominantly upper class, white student body. She would sit there and admire the most attractive boy in her school, Jack Pujols, though she doubted her abilities to win him over. One summer she underwent the transformation into a woman that turned her into the most attractive girl at school and anywhere she went. It is this transformation that is very noteworthy.

Beli’s new body brought about changes physically; however the question arises as to if her reputation by her peers change with her new body? The answer is technically her reputation did not change as Beli mentions, “Now every time she had to head outside, Beli felt like she was stepping into a Danger Room filled with men’s laser eyes and women’s razor whispers (93).” The same hostile looks are given by Beli’s peers before her transformation as she describes, “…kept her head down and survived by ignoring the 10,001 barbs directed at her each day by students and staff alike (83).” From these two passages it becomes clear that Besi received sharp, mean looks before and after her bodily transformation from her peers, though for different reasons. At first it is because of her black skin that her peers give her bad looks, but later it was her stunning beauty that causes the girls to jealously gaze at Beli with the same mean looks. El Redentor was not a place where Beli was welcomed because of her black skin in the beginning and later for her stunning beauty.