Garcia Girls Essay

The experiences people face in life shape their personal identity. In “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” by Julia Alvarez, the four Garcia girls lives are shaped by the influences they have faced throughout their lives from the cultures and societies they lived in. Their lives are constantly altered by the surrounding influences in their lives.

The Garcia girls first grew up in the Dominican Republic. They lived a very sheltered and luxurious lifestyle. They grew up as ordinary girls, exploring their lives and culture. As they grew older, they found talents within themselves that they felt compelled to peruse in their future lives. The Dominican Republic culturally shaped their current lives.  

"It seemed with so much protocol, I would never get to draw the brilliant and lush and wild world brimming over inside me. I tried to keep my mind on the demonstration, but something began to paw the inside of my drawing arm. It clawed at the doors of my will, and I had to let it out. I took my soaking brush in hand, stroked my gold cake, and a cat streaked out on my paper in one lightning stroke, whiskers, tail, meow and all!"(247).

The four girls discovered themselves in their culture. They began to shape their future lives in the Dominican Republic. In the quote about for example, Sandra describes her compulsion to draw and explore her artistic talents. These talents are shaped by surrounding society the are influenced by. Sandra represents the Garcia girls cultural development in the Dominican Republic. 


Unfortunately, the Garcia girls were forced to leave when their father, Carlos, gets in trouble with the secret police for agitating against the military dictatorship. They are forced to leave the Dominican Republic and flee to the United States. There, they are obligated to shape their lives based on United States culture and society. This sudden cultural change in the girls lives brings about many issues, unforeseen to the family at first.

"Our next workshop, no one understood what my sublimated love sonnet was all about, but Rudy's brought down the house. Suddenly, it seemed to me, not only that the world was full of English majors, but of people with a lot more experience than I had. For the hundredth time, I cursed my immigrant origins. If only I too had been born in Connecticut or Virginia, I too would understand the jokes everyone was making on the last two digits of the year, 1969; I too would be having sex and smoking dope; I too would have suntanned parents who took me skiing in Colorado over Christmas break, and I would say things like "no shit," without feeling like I was imitating someone else."(94-95).

The girls soon became lost in the American culture. As life went on in America for them, they became exposed to the unforeseen part of the American culture. America became a place more than just where to find your dream. These troubles came from their old Dominican Republic cultural heritage. They were trying to adjust and expose themselves to American culture, while trying to keep their old heritage. In a sense, they became "lost in translation;" they were forced to find a mid ground between old and new cultures. The girls had difficult times adjusting and found trouble in this; an example of this is the quote above. Yolanda felt inferior to other Americans based on her cultural status and her inexperience in life. This inner turmoil caused a traumatic episode in her life in which she came to a realization of what a lonely life she would live in the future. She knew no one would be able to understand her mix of cultures (Hispanic and American styles). Also, people looked down on their old culture and heritage, which reinforced this idea in all the sisters. 


As their lives progressed, two of the sisters, Yolanda and Sandra, have mental breakdowns. I feel this is because of the cultural loss they experienced throughout their lives and the hardships they faced trying to transition into American culture.  They did not have a solid culture and were lost in their lives as a result. For them, life went on painfully. They were constantly haunted by their past and the memories of their old culture. 

"I grew up, a curious woman, a woman of story ghosts and story devils, a woman prone to bad dreams and bad insomnia. There are still times I wake up at three o'clock in the morning and peer into the darkness. At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear her, a black furred thing lurking in the corners of my life, her magenta mouth opening, wailing over some violation that lies at the center of my art."(289-290).

The cat Schwarz was a big part of the book because it is a representation of the girls childhood and their loss of culture. Memories like these are important to the girls because they can revisit them in an attempt to make sense of their present day life.

Yolanda tried to revisit the Dominican Republic in her later life. She wants to reconnect with her cultural roots and heritage. When she arrives, many of the family thinks she is crazy because she is so much more different than them. When she goes driving alone and is confronted by two men, she panicked and spoke in English instead of Spanish because she felt more comfortable. This is a sign that she had lost her Spanish culture and could never regain it. The shift in cultures during her younger life permanently changed who she was as a person. 

The Garcia girl's lives had been permanently changed by the cultural change in their younger lives. They became lost in two different cultures. They became unsure of themselves and saw themselves as inadequate and inferior to others. This cultural change reflects immigrants in the United States. Many new immigrants coming to different countries go through these troubles and faced with similar feelings throughout their lives. 

Garica Girls: Part 3

Throughout "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," the main characters have been constantly exposed to new environments throughout their lives. I feel that this constant exposure led to the girls to all become emotionally and psychologically scarred during the process of transitioning throughout different cultures. They were taken from their motherland and were too young to survive without it. This is represented in the ending of the book. The helpless kitten symbolized the daughters of the Garcia girls and their slow and unsuccessful progress throughout their lives. Also, Yolanda's guilt over taking away the kitten's right to grow normally foreshadows the problems she and her sisters will face as they grow up. 

The psychological distress all the girls felt can be reflected throughout the story based on the kittens experience. Just as the kitten was stuffed in the hollow of the drum, time was "folded up." The trouble constantly occurred because time was folded up. It started when the girls were uprooted from the Dominican Republic, their cultures, and their extended family. This can reflect the structure of the book and why is chronologically backwards. 

The kitten is lost and will never be able to find its mother again, just as in particular, Yolanda will never be able to find her roots and culture when she returns home in the first chapter. It will be impossible to regain a place back in the Dominican Republic for any of them. Their personal identities and cultures will be based upon the the negative experiences they experienced when growing up.

At first, I felt that Yolanda was simply experiencing America, that she was developing her culture there. I know realize this was wrong. The backwards chronological order allowed me to eventually see this. Obviously in the ending of her book, she was culturally lost and could not relate the the Dominican Republic. The Garcia Girls would not have ended up this was if they had developed on cultural tie, such as with the Dominican Republic, but they didn't and became lost. Now, her future life, such as her writing, will be focused around her struggle to incorporate her past life into her future life and gain a culture. Her life will be constantly focused on finding her culture, which will never happe

Free Topic-School

I have always been extremely enthusiastic when talking about school. I have always loved to argue about the negative points people always look at, but have never bothered to talk about the positive parts of school.

Particularly, ASTI is a great opportunity to start your college career early. It allows juniors and seniors to reach their full potential in their educational life during high school. Because of ASTI many of their students have gone to extremely prestigious school, many of which are extremely hard to get in to. Its program prepares you for your future college life and what you can expect form a university, ect. . Because of ASTI, I know I am going to become extremely successful in my future life and career.

School is the basis of your life because your future is based on your career. If you mess up school now, you will have a bad career in the future. School has allowed me to realize that my current life is a basis for my future career and how I live it. I know to get good grades and have great study habits. I am preparing myself for my future career and life.

School is also important because it prepares you for not only your academic future, but also your future in society. I have gone through many rough times in school so far, and because of this, I can also expect the rough time I will face in the future.

Although school is a negative experience for many people, it can also be seen as a positive one too. The hard work always pays off in the long run and is shows in your future career. The most important thing is to never give up and remember that it will pay off; you will regret if you don't do well in school because it will severely affect the future job you acquire. I have learned this and am trying my best. I hope you do to for your own benefit in present and future.

Violence In Oakland Responce

I just read an interesting post from Alex Tang about violence in Oakland.

"I am tired of hearing about the on going violence that has destroyed the city of Oakland. People need to grow up and learn how to deal with their problems in a peaceful and formal way. Violence can not be the response to everything because that will only make the cycle of violence continue."

Violence in Oakland is currently a huge problem in Oakland. Much of it is a result from unneeded gang violence. Personally, I feel this violence is petty and impractical. It is all based on small disputes and tension between different gangs. The only results of this are unneeded deaths; many innocent people are killed in cold blood, including innocent people our age. Many people are sucked into gangs; they feel the need to be popular or are faced with peer pressure, ect. . In these circumstances, many people are brainwashed into believing gangs are the right choice.

Obviously, gangs are not a good choice to commit to in life. They do not help your life; they destroy it. Gangs are based on nothing but violence. They are not practical. There is no point to them. I feel that the only reason people, usually young adults, is for the reputation. Gangs are meant to be seen as threatening and a power in cities or regions; when a person is associated with this gang, they are also seen as being threatening and powerful. A gang gives thee appearance of power.

In one word, gangs can simply be described as stupid. They only result in the deaths of innocent people. Gangs need to solve violence and problems in a peaceful manner. For many, violence many seem like the answer to solving a problem, but it is not. It only promotes more violence throughout cities. A gang is irrelevant without violence; they are based on it. So simply speaking, without violence, gangs are pointless.

With gangs gone, a large portion of violence in the United States would be gone. They are unneeded. Anyone in a gang should be ashamed of themselves because they are promotes of unneeded violence and have no excuse for this.

Garcia Girls: Part 2

In the second part of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez, the four sisters are continually exposed to new culture. This continuous exposure to different cultures caused the four sisters to "loose their accents."

At first, living in America was hard and a big change in lifestyle and culture for the sisters. They disliked it compared to the Dominican Republic. Eventually though, they began to appreciate and enjoy living in America. The girls developed casual attitudes towards sex and drugs, while also gaining ideas of feminist equality. In the Dominican Republic, this was the exact opposite. They had developed a freedom that was not in the Dominican Republic. That is why they felt much resistance to going back during the summer. They felt much resistance to the ideas of how women were seen socially there and views on American social standards. In particular, Sofia, one of the sisters, was faced with sexism towards her boyfriend.

In the Dominican Republic, women were forced to live their lives based on strict social rules. All women were forced to act "properly." America, however, was different. For the girls, it allowed them to explore aspects of their lives they had never faced before. They slowly became exposed to reality and the outside world. With this exposure, they all slowly "lost their accents." They became dependent on American culture; their mother, wanted them to stay in touch with their roots, but soon realized that there was no hope for the.

I feel that this extreme social change was a had negative and positive affects to their future lives. Of coarse, they sisters were taught to free themselves from the strict social standards of the Dominican Republic, but they did not fully learn the social standards of America. Many of the sisters faced many problems, such as taking care of their safety of using drugs. The girls did not realize this. Because of this, they faced many troubles, such as bullying, perverts, ect. . In a sense, they became lost between the two different cultures their mother wanted them to learn and respect.

"Kids These Days" Responce

I am responding to an interesting post from Vanessa:

"Usually, you will most likely see an adult say “What has happened to the kids nowadays.” They think that we have all changed for the worst. To them, we are so different to how they were back when they were our age. I think that the older people think that everything we do is wrong. Apparently to them, every aspect of what we do and how we behave is not right."

I personally feel that the "what happened to these kids nowadays" opinion of elders is extremely overrated and opinionated. This is because of the fact that elders grew up in a different time period as we did. We have been taught to act in society differently, whether it is from our parents or other outside influences. This goes the same to elders. That is why they sometimes look down on us; they see us acting differently based on their impression of how the younger generation of society should act. 


Personally, I feel that elders should accept the fact that we have grown up in a different generation. We do not have to submit to any earlier social rules/requirements because they do not and have never applied to us. This is a different generation, which mean we have a new set of social rules and requirements. For instance, while many elders think it is acceptable to hit children(because they grew up with that mentality), our generation sees this as abuse and as being extremely unacceptable. Earlier and current generations differ in many different ways. 


I feel that elders themselves should also submit to the new society's social standards. This is a new age/generation where different ideas have come into acceptance or have been slowly dwindling. Society is constantly changing, and our elders should accept this. They cannot expect the new generation to follow old rules when society is constantly changing. I feel that instead, they need to accept the new social standards. 


Old ideas are changing. The new generation is responsible for this. We make the decisions because we are the future generation on Earth. We are the future. 

Free Topic-Grant Mehserle Verdict

The controversial Grant Mehserle Case has finally case has finally come to an end. A verdict has been made; Mehserle is going to serve two years jail time, but the catch is that 292 days of jail time he has already spent will count to this sentence.

I personally feel that this is an extremely unfair and unjust verdict. Firstly, everyone has seen the murder video, the proof of the trial. Obviously from the video, Grant was cooperative, yet Mehserle shot him. This was not an accident. How could it have been. This was manslaughter, yet Grand was charged with involuntary manslaughter. This alone caused chaos in the streets of downtown Oakland. Yet another atrocity has just occurred though. Mehserle has been served a verdict of two years, but he has already served 292 days of this verdict. He will only be in jail for about one year. For "involuntary manslaughter."

This is an atrocity. Firstly, I believe that his sentence should have been manslaughter. He did not accidentally shoot Grant. Grant was totally cooperative. There was no reason too. Mehserle shot Grant while he was laying face down on the ground. That is manslaughter. And yet he was charged with two years for involuntary manslaughter.

I believe that this shows the legal system of the United States and how it is operated. A police officer can get away with anything. No matter what, they always have an excuse because they have the law on their side. This is why so many people are upset over the case. They see this connection too and are angered by it. That is why tonight, there are going to be numerous protests, all because of this unjust case verdict.