Blog Post 2

SYPNOSIS:  

How the Garcia girls lost their accent is the story that follows four sisters who immigrate from the Dominican Republic to the United States as teenagers setting in 1960s during the dictatorship of General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. “The Four Girls”, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia face internal conflicts to hold onto their own culture while struggling to adapt to a new language and a new home away from home.  

Character Development

Carla (oldest daughter):
•When Carla was still a child living in the Dominican Republic, she accidentally got one of the maids fired. She gave the Gladys her new Bank, which her dad had recently brought back from New York as a gift for Carla. Gladys originally asked Carla if she could buy it from her, but Carla declined. Carla knew she wasn’t supposed to give away gifts but also knew how happy the bank would make Gladys. Carla just wanted to do the right thing. She let Gladys have it, on one condition; don’t tell Mami. Weeks had passed and Mami noticed the bank was missing, she couldn’t find it and Carla even pretended to look for the bank with Mami. After her parents fired Gladys, Carla confessed that she had given it to Gladys, but it was too late. Papi and Mami felt they couldn’t trust her. To make the moment worse, It was just then that the lever to the bank had jammed, making it in operable. All that fuss for nothing.
•All of the girls went to the Catholic Elementary school that was only a block away from their home. However, Carla had to change schools for seventh grade because there was not an available spot. Principal Nun advised she could perhaps repeat sixth grade since they had availability there, however, then she would have to repeat a grade, and be in the same grade as Sandra. So, Carla then had to switch to the parish that was a town over. The commute involved a decent length walk and public bus transportation. The first month Mommy did the commute both ways with Carla until she knew the way by heart. During the year, Carla was hazed by other classmates coming home from school. 

Dr. Fanning & Mrs. Fanning: 
He arranged the fellowship that allowed them all to get out of the old country. Dr. Fanning was trying to help by lining up jobs for Carlos, but first Carlos has to pass the licensing exam. Carlos couldn’t obtain an American doctor’s license due to his foreign education. 
The Garcia family had arrangements to meet the Fannings for dinner at a fancy Spanish restaurant Mrs. Fanning had several glasses of wine very quickly. Sandra, Papi, and Mrs. Fanning excuse themselves from the table to use the restroom, a very intoxicated Mrs. Fanning threw herself at Carlos and kissed him right in front of Sandra. He tells Sandra not to repeat anything to her mother. 

Yolanda (third sister): 
•In America, classes were practicing Air-Raid Drills. The teacher explained what would happen and drew on the chalkboard a mushroom cloud and dotted a flurry of chalk marks for the dusty fallout. One day while daydreaming out the window, Yolanda saw dots in the sky and yelled, “bomb!” the teacher laughed, “why Yolanda dear, that snow!”
•In ninth grade, Yolanda was chosen to say a speech at her school assembly. She was dreading having to speak aloud in front of everyone. Papi told her it was an honor. Yolanda read her speech to her Mami first, then with teared filled eyes, Mami told her it was wonderful. Papi on the other hand hated it, and said it made her sound selfish and conceded. He tore it up and forbid her from reading that disrespectful speech to her teachers. Mommy stayed up late with Yolanda helping her rewrite another paper that would appease to Papi, and the nuns. 

Sophia (forth sister): 
Once the girls were older and in boarding school, they were sent to the island during the summers, so they would stay out of trouble. While the girls were away over summer, Mami found a bag of weed in Sophia‘s bedroom. She flew down to the island immediately, to discuss her discovery to the girls, while trying to keep Papi out of it. All of the girls tried sharing blame, but Sophia ultimately admitted it was hers. As punishment, the other three girls could go back to the states, but Sophia had to stay behind and live on the island for one year. Over that time, she starts dating someone very controlling of her, even yells at her for reading a book. Mami and Papi order Sophia to move back to the states before she gets pregnant by this man.

 
Carlos & Laura (Papi & Mami):
After only 11 months of living in the United States, they moved their family out of the city, into a neighborhood on Long Island so that the girls could have a yard to play in. Laura started taking adult classes in real estate, business management, and economics. Carlos was valedictorian of his high school class; he had his medical license during his adult years in the Dominican Republic. Upon entering the U.S., Carlos had to retake the licensing exam so he could be a doctor in America. Mami and Papi chose to eventually enroll the girls in an all-girls preparatory school where they can mix with the “right kind of Americans”. Anytime one of the girls acted out, Papi would threaten one, or even all four of them to be sent to the island to straighten them out. Once Papi started making more money, they would send the girls back to the island during summer break to keep them out of trouble. The girls wanted to get summer jobs, but Mami and Papi insisted summertime was for family time. 

Quick History Lesson:
in 1937, General Trujillo ordered that all black people of Haitian descent; to get out of his side of the island or he would have them all killed. Trujillo’s soldiers would ask those they suspected to be Haitian, to say the word “parsley”: perejil. If they couldn’t pronounce the word, they were killed. Over the course of five days, Trujillo’s soldiers killed tens of thousands of ethnic Haitians living in the Dominican side of the island. This genocide is known as El Corte, “the cutting” in the DR. in America, this genocide is referred to as The Parsley Massacre. 

Chucha:
Chucha was a Haitian woman. She spoke French and had difficulty pronouncing some Spanish, like the word for parsley. On the night of the Parsley Massacre, Chucha showed up on the doorstep of Papito and Mamita, seeking refuge. Papito took her in, Mamita taught her chores, and she worked for the De La Torre family for a very long time. Chucha changed Laura’s diapers as a baby, and inevitably the diapers of the four girls as well. On the last night on the island, Chucha enters the girl’s room just as they were packing. She brought a statue to the girls that look like it was crying. Chucha started to cry while praying over the girls. She told the girls that they were leaving their homeland and never coming back, just like Chucha herself had to do, when she was just a girl. After the family leaves, Chucha walks the empty, eerie, still house, and can hear the voodoo spirits talk to her, and warn her of what is to come. The house will fall apart, be rated and be overrun by the guardias. 
“I have said my prayers…they will invent what they need to survive”. -Chucha

My Thoughts

This book is told in reverse chronological order, continuing on into part two of this novel, the young Garcia girls have been in the U.S. for one year. Mami made a flan to celebrate, yummy! And they just moved again. After only 11 months in the U.S., they moved out of the city to a neighborhood on Long Island so that the girls could have a yard to play in, Mami said. Roots were sinking in. I took a special interest in reading about Carla‘s experiences, and was curious to see how she would adapt, considering she is the eldest daughter with the most understanding of her circumstances. Early on she made many mistakes in her little mind, confusing words and phrases. She didn’t think she would ever get used to this new country. Upon entering her new school for seventh grade, she got bullied and hazed during her commute to-and-from school. She was chased, call names, and had rocks thrown at her. 

“Go back to where you came from you dirty spic!” 

Initially, Carla was feeling optimistic about this new school. This gave her a chance to explore her Identity Negotiation. She could discover, “who is Carla?”, without the shadow of her three sisters behind her. Ultimately, this exploration journey ended early for Carla when one day while walking home, a half-naked man driving a car pulled up beside her, trying to coerce her into getting in. Carla hesitated because of the language barrier, she did not understand his words, but then she ran home to tell her mother of the traumatizing events that had just occurred. In part one of this novel, readers discover that Mami and Papi decided to send the girls to a prestigious all girls preparatory school, so they can mix with the “right kind of Americans”. This decision came full circle with understanding, while reading about Carla’s horrific afternoon, walking home from school that day. The older siblings usually are forced into carrying more trauma and enduring more hardships than the younger siblings take on. During the very important dinner with The Fanning’s, Sandi was forced to hold onto a very deep secret. Papi was right; Sandi was a big girl and had to do what was best for the family. All because she accidentally saw something she wasn’t supposed to. 

“That woman is drunk”, he whispered, crouching down beside Sandi. “But I can’t insult her, imagine our one chance in this country.” He spoke in a serious, hushed voice he had used with Mami those last few days in the old country. “Por favor Sandi, you’re a big girl now. Not a word of this to your mother. You know how she is these days.” Sandi eyed him. This is the first time her dad had asked her to do something crazy.

Carlos/Papi

The younger girls had perspective from a slightly different, more innocent lens. In chapter 9, “Snow”, little Yolanda pulls at the heartstrings of the reader. What an incredible, inexplicable moment, of seeing snowfall for the first time of her life. A sweet moment of innocence for this naïve child, to be lost in an in an entanglement of confusion within Cultural Hybridity. Yolanda goes on to shine in school. In ninth grade, she has chosen to present a speech during an assembly in front of her school. “A great honor”, Papi called it. Yolanda had reservations about subjecting herself to possible ridicule from her classmates, due to her still existing accent. Considering Papi was the speaking valedictorian of his high school class, his expectations for Yolanda to honor and represent their family, were high. She presented her rough draft speech to her parents, causing a big spectacle to erupt. Papi tore up her speech and forbid her to read those words to the school. The speech did not represent his family’s beliefs, the way he wanted it to.

“What is wrong? I will tell you what is wrong. It show no gratitude. It is boastful. I celebrate myself? The best student learns to control the teacher?” He mocked Yoyo’s plagarized words. “That is insubordinate. It is improper. It is disrespecting of teachers”.

Carlos/Papi

This can be looked at as an example of Intergenerational Conflicts. A loving reflection of Mami‘s character was then displayed afterwards. Laura stayed up until the wee hours with Yolanda. She helped her re-write a new speech that would be considered satisfactory to Papi and loaded with stale compliments for the nuns and sisters of the school faculty. 

Time away from the island was affecting the ideologies of more than just the four girls. Laura seemed to recognize the vast difference in position that women seem to hold in the states, verses in the Dominican. Laura grew up on a different level of privilege, being the daughter of the De la Torre name. Coming to the land of opportunity meant Laura could possibly make a name for herself outside of the Dominican. She wanted to show these Americans that her maiden name could mean something in this land too. Laura started taking adult courses in real estate, business management, and economics. Laura recognized that in the states, she could now be looked at as the leader. She had gone to school in the states. She could now speak English without an accent. She had confidence that she could invent something so revolutionary, and from there all their hopes and dreams would come true. Laura drew her ideas on her notepad. When the idea of a possible invention presented itself, she would draw up a draft, just for the idea to always fall short on impressing any of the girls. Through her many trials and errors, Laura persisted with her ideas on her notepad. 

“Yoyo thinks of the speech her mother wrote as her last invention. It was as if, after that, her mother had passed on to Yoyo her pencil and pad and said, “okay Cucquita, here’s the buck. You give it a shot!” 

Laura/Mami

Laura seems to cope with a simulation at a faster pace than Carlos can keep up with. Carlos favors Integration over Simulation. He prioritizes holding onto traditional values over embracing change. These two characters display, Cultural Retention versus Assimilation Pressures, and the impact of language and cultural loss. For example, Carlos would insist Laura speak to the girls in Spanish, not English. Carlos became only more worried as the girls grew older. He worried they were going to “lose the girls to America”. So, when things, (politics) on the island calm down, he sent the girls to the island during summer breaks, so the girls would not lose touch, con la familia. Of course, the hidden agenda was for the girls to meet and marry boys from back home, not Americans, “because everyone knew once a girl marries an American, those grandbabies come out jabbering English, and think of the island as just someplace to get a suntan.” 

It’s interesting to observe the reversal of hierarchy and social class imposed on the Garcia’s, while being told in reverse chronological order. On the island, the De La Torre family came from privilege, through a third world standpoint. Laura grew up with a reputable last name and surrounded by those waiting to serve, maids, cooks, and servants. The four girls under different circumstances, would have grown up the same, had they not immigrated. As girls in the Dominican, they were waited on, hand and foot, on the pathway of being spoiled as well. Fast-forward some years, the Garcia‘s all realize how the tables have turned on them, for they were now the ones to be scoffed at by Americans. It’s my opinion Julia Alvarez, the author, chose to write this book in reverse chronological order to highlight these experiences within Latinidad Acculturation. Clearly, there is no specific way to navigate a culture. Alvarez displayed how much experience can differ for children, their parents, and even within the children, different situations were experienced for different ages. Acculturation is a process that can change overtime for anyone. 

“I have said my prayers, …they will invent what they need to survive”.

Chucha