In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, one of the main characters, Yolanda, finds herself in a mental institution after experiencing what she describes as a word allergy during the chapter “Joe.” It’s explained that “she does not know which [words], until they are on the tip of her tongue and it is too late, her lips swell, and her skin itches, her eyes water with allergic reaction tears” (Alvarez 82). The words that we see her have this reaction to most often are “love” and her own name. Growing up, Yolanda was an immigrant to the United States from the Dominican Republic and spent much of her young life trying to figure out how to adapt to an unfamiliar environment, how to develop an identity in that environment. Unfortunately,
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Yolanda says that her and John didn’t “speak the same language.” The two clearly wanted different things from their relationship, but the idea of them not speaking the same language also goes back to the fact that Yolanda’s first language was Spanish, not English. Spanish was a major part of her culture and identity that she lost after moving to America, and that she found difficult to express during her marriage. Even her name was mispronounced by those around her. It’s clear that part of the reason she ended up developing this allergy to certain words was because part of her identity, language, had been disrupted and warped. Another aspect of Yolanda’s life that hurt her ability to develop her identity was her lack of sexual education, both from her parents and from her schooling. This comes up in “The Rudy Elmenhurst Story,” where we see Yolanda trying to discover and feel comfortable in her sexuality. However, because Yolanda was not taught so much as the basic anatomy of her body, she ended up confused about sex and unable to mesh with her peers in that realm. Yolanda “started wondering if maybe [her] upbringing had disconnected some vital nerves” (Alvarez,
Yolanda says that her and John didn’t “speak the same language.” The two clearly wanted different things from their relationship, but the idea of them not speaking the same language also goes back to the fact that Yolanda’s first language was Spanish, not English. Spanish was a major part of her culture and identity that she lost after moving to America, and that she found difficult to express during her marriage. Even her name was mispronounced by those around her. It’s clear that part of the reason she ended up developing this allergy to certain words was because part of her identity, language, had been disrupted and warped. Another aspect of Yolanda’s life that hurt her ability to develop her identity was her lack of sexual education, both from her parents and from her schooling. This comes up in “The Rudy Elmenhurst Story,” where we see Yolanda trying to discover and feel comfortable in her sexuality. However, because Yolanda was not taught so much as the basic anatomy of her body, she ended up confused about sex and unable to mesh with her peers in that realm. Yolanda “started wondering if maybe [her] upbringing had disconnected some vital nerves” (Alvarez,