Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent Analysis

Blanca Quinteros

Ms. A. Aramillo

English IV Honors

29 October 2015

How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent

The transition the girls made from Dominican Republic to the United States was imbued with struggles – cultural, linguistic, and gender-related. In the 1960s American women were limited in various ways, including family roles and equality in the workplace. The way gender roles were set retained them from expanding their abilities in their homes and jobs. Women had one path to follow: marriage at their early 20s, and subsequent servitude to their husbands and/or children. A feminist movement in the 1960s to 1970s focused on breaking down the gender inequality. How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent is divided into three sections

When the girls moved to the United States and started to learn the independent way of thinking perpetuated in the United States, they were confused. “American culture includes both conservative and liberal elements.” (McDonald, 120). America is rich in ethnic backgrounds making the country subject to a variety of liberal thought influx. This liberty to cultural, religious, and sexual exploration affected the way the girls, including the mother, felt with in light of their Dominican

However, she, too, understood the way women’s lives was expected to look like. Sofia was of a bold personality. “He had never called her by her family pet name, Fifi, even when she lived at home. He had always had problems with his maverick youngest, and her running off hadn't helped.” (Alvarez, 51) Sofia had always been independent-minded and now that she was in the United States, she felt much more freedom to do whatever she wanted, even if her Doninican roots appeared to be jeopardized or if her parents disagreed of her doings. She wanted the freedom her American friends had. “Technically, she was right. It was her Baggy. The rest of us had had dope only when our boyfriends rolled a joint or when, in a party of friends, a cigarette made its rounds, everyone drawing a toke.” (Alvarez, 200) Sofia detested having her parents watching her every move. Hence, after her mother found the bag of marijuana, she was given the chance to go back to the United States, not to her boarding school but to go to the nearest college and stay living with Laura and Carlos. “Fifi opted to stay. Better one dozen chaperoned cousins, she figured, than home alone with Mami and Papi breathing down her neck and Peter Pan with his hand on her ass.” (Alvarez, 202) Sofia had an ongoing dispute with her father because she was unable to control her sexuality. The father felt that part of his honor