In Luis Alberto Urrea’s novel “The Hummingbird’s Daughter”, one observes the telling of how one young woman evolved from being a nobody to being a somebody to almost everybody around her. The protagonist of the story, Teresita, went from being the abandoned daughter of a poor, uneducated single woman, to being the saint of her people. Her journey through this transformation was abound with many mentors who helped guide her to her destiny of becoming a saint and healer. The main teachers were: Huila and Tomas, who taught her about how to be a woman and a daughter, Don Aguierre and Manuelito, who educated her academically, and her religious followers, who taught her the meaning of true friendship and loyalty.
Throughout her young adolescent life, Huila was the only true teacher and companion that Teresita had. Thus, it could be argued that Huila was the most influential of all of Teresita’s teachers. Although she herself was a medicine woman with exceptional healing powers, it appeared that she did not teach Teresita too much in the art of healing. Instead, she seemed to have become a sort of mother figure to Teresita. As a mother figure, one would be expected to teach the child manners, teach her about religion, men, and so on. In the book, it was evident that Huila did these things, and more. For example, during one of their first encounters together, Huila offered Teresita a cookie. One of the things Huila said to Teresita in this moment was, “When an adult asks you a question like that, you must answer politely, and say thank you” (63). Huila also taught Teresita her own world views about spirituality, such as in her teaching Teresita that “God is everything” (95). In addition to these, Huila also helped Teresita come to realize her powers by exposing her to the “right” people during different stages of her life. For example, when Huila noticed that Teresita