Summary Of The Novel 'A Regular Revolution' By Julia Alvarez

Improved Essays
Most immigrant families experience a multitude of challenges when they migrate to the United States of America. In her novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, Julie Alvarez narrates the difficulties of growing up bicultural in the United States. As narrated in A Regular Revolution, Julia Alvarez tells the story of the Garcia family who migrates to New York and the struggles they face once they arrive. The Garcia girls were born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States as children. All the struggles they face revolve around three major themes; family conflict, “loss of home” and sexism.
As soon as the Dominican family arrived to the United States, they faced many conflicts with other family members. The cultural values

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Assimilation leads to Cultural Schizophrenia Assimilation is a difficult process that cannot take place without understanding the language of the new country, causing assimilation to be controlled by how much of the language is understood. In the book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alverez these difficulties with language and assimilation are experienced by Yolanda, the main character in the book, and her older sister Carla. Both of the girls struggle with language because of the lack of assistance with language through their assimilation process. In addition, both of the girls suffer from Cultural schizophrenia. It is a type of schizophrenia that manifests its self when one cannot determine or identify in a single cultural…

    • 1690 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Se Habla Espan᷉ol and Mother Tongue Tanya Maria Barrientos and Amy Tan are similar but also contain some key differences. Barrientos and Tan are children of immigrants that are ashamed of their families heritage. Although Barrientos and Tan were raised within different cultures, they are both ashamed of where they came from. As Barrientos says, “I wanted to call myself Latino, to finally take pride, but it felt like a lie” (631).…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kids Like Me Book Report

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Grades 3-5. Lexile® Measure:750L Guided Reading Level:R DRA Level:40 (Scholastic.com). Blohm, J., & Lapinsky, T. (2006). Kids like me voices of the immigrant experience. Boston: Intercultural Press.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In “And May He be Bilingual,” an essay included in her book “Women in the Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer,” Judith Ortiz Cofer depicts that hardships that she faced as a child of immigrant parents. Like many other people that share similar issues, the essay responds to the alienation that immigrants and people of a Latino background experience in the United States (Cofer 2). This consciousness happens to be supported by the several factors, the United States has always depicted itself as a country that allows others to manifest and achieve their dreams, and although the United States may seem to have already adapted and encouraged immigrant integration, it actually lacks on more than meets the eye. Cofer has decided to include various…

    • 1467 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gloria Anzaldúa

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa talks about her experience struggling with her identity growing up as a Chicana living in the United States. Her experience also relates to many other Latinos living in the United States who struggled to find their place in society and a language to speak freely without feeling fear and embarrassment afterwards. She talks about how throughout her life the language she used was suppressed in various ways and forms as she was forced to assimilate to the dominant English language. Anzaldúa also discusses some examples of how the Spanish language changed and evolved in since the first Spanish colorizations began in the region. Overall, the main message she is sending is that she is who…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Appalachian English (AE) dialect has changed over time. AE developed in the 1700s when Scottish-Irish immigrants settled in the cheap, mountainous territory that makes up the Appalachian Mountains. Isolated from the outside world for centuries, the Appalachian people spoke a distinct dialect that became known as AE. Unique features characterize the speech in Appalachia; the use of these features is fading as the area becomes less isolated.…

    • 1454 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Muslim immigrant children lives take place in different spheres. At school, they are the foreign underdogs and must overcome negative implications forced on them in order to be accepted. At home, they must appear Moroccan in attitudes and interactions. At play amongst themselves, however, they are most free to tell their own stories, which for girls can manifest in the construction of “desirable female identities in the context of idealizations of Spanish femininity" (260). These narratives would be laughable amongst their Spanish peers at school and near-heretical at home, but out with their friends they are able to build stories about themselves independent of adults or the racial majority.…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alma Rivera is more familiar and comfortable in Mexico, where as if she stayed in the United States ,she would continuously be reminded of the tragedy that occurred. “The Book of Unknown Americans” has truly opened my eyes to a different side of life in America. I am more grateful for the things I have because Cristina Henriquez showed me the reality and life of immigrants moving the United States. I enjoyed quickly getting attached to the characters and finding out their story for their point of view. I would encourage every American to read Cristina Henriquez’s book to receive a greater respect and understanding for the hardships immigrants have to go…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the United States culture is so broad that it cannot be depicted with ease, it is a melting pot of hundreds of cultures considering there are so many immigrants; the picture below presents an idea of how the U.S is thriving with culture. The struggles and hard effort people put into their daily lives all contribute to the vibrancy and uniqueness of the immigrant experience; their efforts are seen through their achievements. This culture has produced a bountiful amount of self taught people with unique knowledge, an interesting past, and a thriving future. Malcolm X’s article A Homemade Education and Amy Tan’s article Mother Tongue provide various examples of what it is like to live as a minority, as well as examples of the struggle of living…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racism In Nayeli's Life

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Tacho and Nayeli got a taste of the difficulties of both worlds were the social standards for one immigrant might not be the same as for another. The border continues to play its role in the journey of the girls throughout there challenge to get throw their…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Julia Alvarez is a New York born Afro-American. Shortly after her mother gave birth to her, her family packed their belongings and moved back to the Dominican Republic. At the age of 10, Alvarez immigrated back with her family (“Julia Alvarez” 1). It was this move that opened her up and forced her to experience a clash of cultures. This childhood shaped with a dual culture becomes evident in many of her most popular works.…

    • 802 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sandra Cisneros is the author of a short story entitled "Mericans”. It has a young female narrator is stuck in an “old world” culture. In this particular case it is a Mexican culture. The narrator does not seem to understand the traditions, this shows a rift between the children that are Mexican but are being brought up in America and their grandmother who has migrated here from Mexico. Ciseneros uses the setting and symbolism to create the theme of individualism conflicting with cultural traditions; the individual children show confusion when it comes to showing which culture they belong to.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Julia Alvarez, the author of “Before We Were Free”, has personally experienced what the characters in her book have encountered. Alvarez, having had to grow up in the Dominican Republic, was closely involved in the underground works to relinquish the dictator, Trujillo. The story is a reputable representation of the Hispanic culture. Because Alvarez has firsthand knowledge of the conflict in the Dominican Republic, she has merit to compose a book that brings life to the culture. In order to fully understand the culture she describes, you need to know and appreciate the author’s background.…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The memoir Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez went beyond to help women to fulfill their dream and empower them. Rodriguez takes us through a journey filled with stories about her own life and how it is interconnected with the Kabul women in such ways. Rodriguez’s struggle and hard work to open up the Beauty school in Kabul has led to discoveries of afghan women as capable, confident, deeply determined and endlessly resilient. In a country where women have very few opportunities to achieve any independence or to create a social realm for themselves, the beauty school becomes a haven for the Afghan women who are carefully selected to join the ranks of beauticians. In Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez, Rodriquez portrays how courage…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I remember how I’d smile listening to my little ones, understanding every word they’d say” (972). She is happy while she is reminiscing about the past, but the memories quickly fade and she’s back to the daily challenges she’s facing. She said, “Now my children go to American high schools, they speak English” (972). Moving to American was to better her family, she wanted more for them, even if it meant she was taking a big risk for herself. She felt “dumb and alone,” (972) because her children knew how to speak English.…

    • 964 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays