What is the theme in The Last of the Menu Girls by Denise Chavez?

Making Choices is another theme in the story. Ultimately, everyone becomes defined by the choices made throughout lifetimes. Throughout this novel, author Chavez demonstrates how individual lives become rather permanently formed by the choices they have made. Nieves chose to settle for a husband who eventually left the family and is now faced with raising two daughters on her own, teaching school, and living a rather unhappy and unfulfilled life. She is controlled by the responsibilities she now has as a result of her choices, and must teach school and be frugal and hard-working in order to survive.