How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents By Alvarez: An Analysis

At the tender age of 13 most american children are sat down by their parents and forced to listen to them awkwardly explain the mechanism of sex. A generally traumatic experience that most kids end up repressing to the far recesses of their mind. However this once in a lifetime event is typically an American experience and is not something most immigrant children are exposed to (they are more familiar of the general statements of “..not until after your married”, and the classic “ Did you go behind the palm trees”). In her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents”, Julie Alvarez narrates the difficulties the Garcia girls face growing up bicultural in the United States and the transitions they made as they strive to create an identity that is both Latina and American. Alvarez uses the theme of sexuality to illustrate the Garcia girls’ transition from Dominican island beauties to hip American teens. As adolescents the Garcia girls don't get the “birds and bees” talk, as in the Dominican Republic it would be seen as unnecessary. Although the DR seems like a relaxed and laid back country, attitudes towards sex are a little more than conservative. Both …show more content…
Rudy's native English and his personality give him a freewheeling attitude towards sex that Yolanda lacks. He talks about sex with a distinct American vocabulary, using words such as "laid," “balled,” "fucked," and slang such as "69," (97). This causes Yolanda to be offended by what she feels is an inappropriate and crass way of talking about sex. She cannot think about sex in the same ways that Americans did in the late sixties, a fun and harmless experience. She continues to see it in many ways as her parents did, as a symbol of a long term and spiritual commitment to another person. Coupled with her love of language, she connects the idea that talking about sex casually means the individual treats sex as a casual