How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents By Julia 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 Instead, because it is seen as more socially acceptable, they are made to embrace celibacy and abstinence. ( characterized by 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 …show more content…
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 in the traditional sense, as in the Dominican Republic it would be seen as unnecessary. While Dominican culture may appear to be relaxed, the general views on sex are very outdated and conservative. Both catholicism, the predominant religion among hispanics in the DR and the culture of machismo contribute to a lack of sexual openness among women. From a young age most Dominican girls are presented with one possible role model, the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary is viewed as the template of the prefect woman, i.e a women who freely embraces her own calling; one that promotes her devotion to god, the men in her life and motherhood (conveniently coinciding with the male attitude of machismo). According to the