“How the Garcia girls lost their accents” is a narrative written by Julia Alvarez describing her childhood and adult life while transitioning from one culture and country to another unwillingly. The book bounces from year to year and from childhood and adult hood by the chapter and can be confusing to follow in the beginning. Some chapters could have been moved around and placed in a different order with little effect to the story as a whole but there is one chapter that is critical based on where it is placed, “ The Drum”. This chapter is placed last because it contains extreme imagery about the entirety of what we just read. It may just seem like a random story about a drum set and some cats but if we delve deeper into the significance of …show more content…
Just as the kitten was forced away form its mother too soon, so too was Yolanda forced to leave her homeland and culture and too young of an age. Yolanda was too young to make such a drastic move which lead to her having difficulties later in life. Her cultural guidelines of how to act were no longer there and eventually when she got a little older she was free to become whoever she wanted. Even she was free to be whoever she chose they would never truly assimilate with the average American. For instance when Yolanda was in boarding school she met a boy name Rudy Elmhurst who she started seeing for quite a while. Their relationship ended in frustration however because Yolanda refused to have sex with him for months. Sex which was seen as taboo in Dominican culture was a cultural norm in the 60’s for Americans. This clash of culture and Yolanda not truly being able to fit in with one specific culture ruined her chances at what could have been a wonderful relationship. Also when Yolanda returns to the island 20 years after her family originally moved she is teased by her aunts and cousins about the way she looks. “ You look terrible, too thin and the hair needs a cut.” (49), her cousins Lucinda said to her upon her visit. Also on the same trip she had a hard time acting like the dominican elite. Yolanda decided to take a trip up the coast to pick fresh guava. On the war she had a flat tire and is approached by two men with machetes. Terrified of the men she froze and replied to them in english not spanish causing the men to think that she is a tourist so they help her. Yolanda forgetting what her name on the island meant had nothing to fear but because she was not accustomed to being Dominican elite she was seen as an
Louise Erdrich has a certain tone in the novel The Painted Drum, Jean Wyatt argued that the transformation of the protagonists’ process central to this novel is not described at all (Wyatt par. 1). Rather, the narrative
There are approximately seven billion human beings in the world, each having their own culture and traditions. Coincidentally enough, “The Tequila Worm” is based on a small town in Texas, with a family who shares the same family traditions as mine. Viola Canales, the author, talks about the main protagonist, Sophia, and how she celebrates her culture. The making of Easter cascarones, celebrating Dia de Los Muertos, and her connection with her father, Sophia’s life is not so different from mine. Therefore, Sophia’s life and experiences are uncanny similarities to mine and that is what this essay will focus on.
Class ESL 5 In the article, ”My English” by Julia Alvarez, the author wrote about her experience as she learn to speak English. Spanish was her mother tongue and struggled to speak English in the early phases. She thought that English was a form of Spanish, as there are different dialects in Spanish. Her parents spoke English when they didn’t want her and her siblings to know what was going on.
In “Wildwood”, Junot Diaz presents a troubled teenager by the name Lola to have distinct conflicting values with her mother. Her mother has controversial Dominican norms and responsibilities. These norms are not what Lola wants to be. Her mother soon gets sick and increases Lola’s feelings to take action on how she wants to live her life. When Lola and her mom continue to carry their abusive conflict, Lola decides to run away to Wildwood.
One day Romero observed that the employer's younger son was giving order to Juanita and Juanita just stood there shocked and humiliated. Since she was a servant
but she couldn’t because of her husband “Even so that night, her ears still ringing from Jaimito’s shout, Dedé had been ready to risk her life. It was her marriage that she couldn’t put on the line” (Alvarez, 177). Dede, the sister who did not actively participate in the revolution wishes she could have. It was her marriage that stopped her from joining her sisters. She believed her country needed to be free from Trujillo
For as long as people can remember, the stereotype that men have “more power” than women in a relationship has been a relevant argument. In the novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents the Author, Julia Alvarez, writes about four girls and part of that revolves around their relationships with men. In all of their relationships with men, he has the power in the relationship which means he makes the decisions for them. When they lived in the United States the girls and their mother had more say in the society. When they lived in the Dominican Republic men just saw them as submissive housewives who bear their children.
In another crucial point, Juana prepares the area to pray to the Saints with her mother until she can’t stay awake. These actions help justify the observation that her family was once unified with faith, good ethics and
They must have misunderstood far more than they understood of each other.’ After years of marriage, they still had practically no language in common. Thus, Carlos started to retreat into silence. It is very probable that he became simply tired of being constantly misunderstood and mocked by his wife because of his weak English. In his case it was more a self-preservation than creating the identity by conscious abstaining from expressing his opinion directly.
Gloria Anzaldúa’s “La Prieta” tell her struggles with identity by talking about prejudices she dealt with while growing up. These prejudices, such as colorism, sexism, and heteronormativity, were not only held by people outside her social groups but within them as well. Anzaldúa goes on to explain the way identity is formed by intersecting factors and not only one aspect of someone’s life therefore denying one factor of identity can cause isolation and self-hatred. The fact that Anzaldúa developed faster than is deemed normal the first struggle in forming her identity.
Generalizations take after specific individuals for the duration of their lives. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina who has been stereotyped and she delineates this in her article, "The myth of the Latin lady: I just met a young lady named Maria. " Cofer depicts how pernicious generalizations can really be. Perusers can understand Cofer 's message through the numerous explanatory interests she employments.
(Alvarez 1304) and is experiencing the same alienation feelings with her family. This leads to her antojos of guavas as she tries to reconnect with her heritage. Yolanda’s greatest conflict is finding her place in Dominican and American culture and her identity. She could never fully assimilate in American culture and way of life because of her strong Dominican background.
Throughout generations cultural traditions have been passed down, alongside these traditions came language. The language of ancestors, which soon began to be molded by the tongue of newer generations, was inherited. Though language is an everlasting changing part of the world, it is a representation of one’s identity, not only in a cultural way but from an environmental standpoint as well. One’s identity is revealed through language from an environmental point of view because the world that one is surrounded with can cause them to have their own definitions of words, an accent, etc. With newer generations, comes newer forms of languages.
A tongue is one of the most important body parts, if that’s what we shall call it, that a human being has. If it was not for the tongue, it would be a very quiet world. Gloria Anzaldúa, born in 1942, near the large Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, was bound to make a difference in lives before she ever knew it. When Gloria turned eleven she started to work in the fields as a migrant worker and then started on her family’s land after the passing of her father. In Gloria Anzaldúa’s the short story, How to Tame a Wild Tongue, she describes her upbringing and growing up in a dual culture society split in two.
In the meantime, Geeta tells her parents that she is in love with Juan who is a Chicano. However, Geeta’s family counters this decision with a serious reproach, for not respecting their culture, while Geeta feels they have no interest in respecting her marriage choice. Everybody at home gets upset. She quarrels with her dad and mum and leaves the house without telling anybody. In her search for happiness through love, Geeta is threatened by her own reluctance to abandon traditional Indian culture.