How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Barrientos starts with sharing her embarrassment to sign up for Spanish classes—the language used by her parents to communicate. Society’s expectation on her fluency of Spanish based on her Latina appearance causes self-questioning: where do I fit in? However, Barrientos initially refused to face her ethnicity as a Latina, beginning at a young age. The poor reputation on Spanish Americans causes Barrientos to isolate herself from the stereotype, by speaking English instead of Spanish. However, society changed: different

One of the main sources of tension in How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, written by Julia Alvarez, are the sisters search for a personal identity among contrasting cultures. Many of the characters felt pressure from two sources, the patriarchal culture that promotes traditional gender roles and society of nineteen-sixties and seventies America. Dominican tradition heavily enforces the patriarchal family and leaves little room for female empowerment or individuality, whereas in the United States, the sixties and seventies were times of increasingly liberal views and a rise in feminist ideals. This conflict shaped the identities of the characters in Alvarez’s novel and often tore the characters apart for one another.

Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.

New Country, New Me: Taking Back Control in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents

Culture shock is the feelings of alienation, hostility, heightened ethnocentrism, sense of loss, depression and/or self doubt that may result from immersion in a new culture.

As a Hispanic that grew up in the American culture I can relate to numerous parts in the book where I have had that obstacle come my way and having to think why did I chose to do this instead of that. I can relate to this book for all the gender stop point and obstacles that are put in place by the Hispanic culture. But just how in the book the father overcame the Dominican dictatorship, I have learned to overcome the hesitations that are thrown at me for being an independent Hispanic woman. I can see why the Garcia sisters are faced with being in between two worlds and finding a place to call home. It may be difficult to chose, but the right decision to take is always outside of what society or everyone else is expected of you to be seen as.

Mrs. Garcia is a middle age Mexican American woman, first generation acculturation into the societal beliefs

‘How the Garcia girls lost their accents’ by Julia Alvarez talks about the four girls fleeing to the united states after their father’s attempt to overthrow dictator is undiscovered. They arrived in Brooklyn, New York to a life totally different from the one back home where their name inspired respect and had dozens of maids serving them fine foods in silverware, but had to live in fear of uncles disappearing by the hand of the secret police. In the new world their parents try to hold onto their old traditions, but the girls have a different idea and instead try to find new lives for themselves but find themselves caught between the old and the new world. The novel tells their struggle to fit in and to express/communicate themselves. The story is all about one of the many aspects of the immigrant experience; language barrier and the power of word/being able to express oneself. The book is extremely popular among Hispanic immigrants for its relatableness. Although an unpopular opinion, I wouldn’t recommend Millennials to read the novel because its complex storyline, poor transitions between stories, characters difficult to

Immigrant families were not a solidified unit with a common purpose and goal. There was a division between the older generations emigrating from their home country to the United States and their children who were not as fond of where they came from. Addams recalled how families attempted to be together, but the children who were capable of speaking English had other priorities and in this, families rarely left together into the city (Addams, 11). Addams realized the need to bring the family together into a complete unit by providing more in Hull House. She worked in providing musical instruments for the families, so that parents and children together can unite over music and impose their culture and arts upon the younger generation. Although the older generations depended on the children to learn new things and ways of culture, they wanted to teach their children first so that they knew “something of the old ways” (Addams, 11). Similarly, Addams learned of the need to connect immigrant’s previous experiences in Europe with the new experiences of the United States. To do this, Addams

When the Garcia Girls immigrated to the United States and established a place to live in an apartment in New York, an old tenant that also lived in the apartment complex made complaints to the manager claiming, "the kids [were] too loud" and the halls reeked because "Hispanic food [smelt] bad" (Alvarez 170). In America when children live in apartments, they are expected to behave and refrain from making a ruckus. The Garcia girls whose parents were wealthy and owned several acres of land didn't have neighbors, so they could be noisy when they played unlike in American cities. The Garcia's had fled their homeland for fear of being prosecuted as political terrorists, not realizing they could be prosecuted in the States for their legal status. For example, the Garcia girls were also in constant fear from "the unexpected knock on the door" that they knew was happening to other Hispanic immigrants (Jacques). In the Dominican Republic it was the S.I.M on the hunt for those against Trujillo but in America it was ICE agents after undocumented immigrants for illegally entering the country. At school, one of the Garcia sisters, Carla, was bullied by her white peers, being taunted as a "spic" and being told to go "back to [her] country" along with the rest of her family (Schaefer and Alvarez 153). The color of their skin and the language they spoke made them stand out as outsiders among their peers who were white. Additionally, Sandra (Sandi) and Yolanda suffered from "mental affliction[s]" because they were confused about their identities ("Julia Alvarez" Contemporary). This was a parallel to Julia Alvarez's life, because from a young age she was told to consider herself "American and therefore different from the rest of her extended family" ( "Julia Alvarez" Contemporary). Sandi and Yolanda were

When one visualizes Latino culture, the prevalent images are often bright colors, dancing, and celebrations. This imagery paints a false portrait of the life of many Latino’s, especially those that are forced to leave their home countries. Latinos often face intense poverty and oppression, whether in a Latin country, or a foreign country, such is true in Pam Ryan’s novel Esperanza Rising. Ryan chronicles the issues that many Latino immigrants face. The first is the pressure from the home country. Many of the countries face turmoil, and many are forced to leave their homes and culture. Once in a foreign place, people often struggle with standing by their own culture or assimilating to the new culture. Latino authors frequently use young adult literature as a platform to discuss the issues they face, as young adults are coming of age they struggle with their identities, personifying the struggle of old culture against the new culture.

    America is a country that was created and settled by immigrants from many different lands. These immigrants came to America in search of the "American Dream" of freedom and a better way of life, and their narratives have been recorded by various authors in both fiction and non-fiction stories. But can the fiction genre be considered a reliable source for studying the immigrant narrative? If American immigrant literature is to be used as a reliable source for understanding the immigrant experience, one needs to justify that this literature properly tracks the history of the immigrant narrative.

The utilization of style makes How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez an arduous book to read. “John’s right hand played piano on her ribs, and his mouth blew a piccolo on her,” Alvarez writes, using metaphor to describe a sex scene between Yolanda and her husband, John (76). The author’s vivid description is frivolous and supports neither the plot nor the specific event within the story. Next, Alvarez’s syntax is emphasized in the excerpt:

In her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Dominican author Julia Alvarez demonstrates how words can become strange and lose their meaning. African American writer Toni Morrison in her novel Sula demonstrates how words can wound in acts of accidental verbal violence when something is overheard by mistake. In each instance, one sees how the writer manipulates language, its pauses and its silences as well as its words, in order to enhance the overall mood of each work.

Even though Carlos and Martha have tried to assimilate to the American culture they have preferred to keep their cultural roots and raise their children according to these. Although Jose and his brothers have adopted their parents’ culture they feel more identified with the American culture. Which always creates a