Between 1980 and 2000, the Dominican Republic was the second largest source nation for immigration to the United States in the Western Hemisphere. In, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez tells how the Garcia family, of the Dominican Republic, flees and migrates to the United States. The Garcia girls did not go through the more typical immigrant experiences because of their wealth from back home. Despite their abnormal background, the Garcia girls still had the struggles of Dominican immigrants in the United States. How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents takes readers through a journey of the immigrant family and shows the difficulties they faced, along with the clash between American and Dominican cultures.
Throughout …show more content…
The girls began exploring their new American culture, and every step they took toward American way, made Mami or Papi upset. In a family of strong Dominican descent, it would upset their parents as they see their children branch away from their culture. As the girls mature, they grow increasingly distant from one another, their parents, and their relatives on the Island. Mami and Papi almost felt as if they were losing touch with their girls, and fragmenting their family. For example, Sandi’s use of Tampax was appalling to Mami, who soon sent them away to all-girls boarding schools. The parents wanted nothing more than for the girls to marry “homeland boys, since everyone knew that once a girl married an American, those grandbabies came out jabbering in English and thinking of the Island as a place to go get a suntan” (109). Even though a lighter skin color would help the children fit in better in the United States, it also means more distance from the Dominican Republic. In the section entitled The Rudy Elmenhurst Story, Yolanda reflects that, after Rudy says “I’m not going to f***ing rape you!” her father would have never stood for that language, especially not in the presence of one of his daughters (96). As anyone can see, the Dominicans are quite different from the American
Throughout …show more content…
The girls began exploring their new American culture, and every step they took toward American way, made Mami or Papi upset. In a family of strong Dominican descent, it would upset their parents as they see their children branch away from their culture. As the girls mature, they grow increasingly distant from one another, their parents, and their relatives on the Island. Mami and Papi almost felt as if they were losing touch with their girls, and fragmenting their family. For example, Sandi’s use of Tampax was appalling to Mami, who soon sent them away to all-girls boarding schools. The parents wanted nothing more than for the girls to marry “homeland boys, since everyone knew that once a girl married an American, those grandbabies came out jabbering in English and thinking of the Island as a place to go get a suntan” (109). Even though a lighter skin color would help the children fit in better in the United States, it also means more distance from the Dominican Republic. In the section entitled The Rudy Elmenhurst Story, Yolanda reflects that, after Rudy says “I’m not going to f***ing rape you!” her father would have never stood for that language, especially not in the presence of one of his daughters (96). As anyone can see, the Dominicans are quite different from the American