How The Garcia Girl Lost Their Accents By Julia Alvarez

In Julia Alvarez’s book, How the Garcia Girl Lost Their Accents, the best literary theory to analyze the book with is Formalism, specifically looking at the recurrence of Yolonda feeling as if they don't belong, to demonstrate the greater immigrant experience during the time period. After Yolonda has lived in the United States for a while, she heads off on her own to college. She notices how her peers act differently than her, “...I cursed my immigrant origins. If only I too had been born in Connecticut or Virginia, I too would understand the jokes everyone was making in the last two digits of the year, 1969. I too would be having sex and smoking dope; I too would have suntanned parents who took me skiing in Colorado over Christmas break, and

She explains how she didnt act like the other students, and did not speak like them, leading her to feel left out. She tries to “become” American, but she is still a little different because of her background. She can't ever fully get rid of her “immigrant origins” because they are a part of her history and life. Yolonda also describes her sisters' same conflicts with their identity as immigrants in the US, all four of them struggling to become American while also holding onto their roots. This further communicates Alvarez’s message and how immigrants often have a hard time “becoming american” and getting accustomed to the culture here. Later, after Rudy and Yolonda break up, she feels hopeless, “I saw what a cold, lonely life awaited me in this country. I would never find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles”(99). There was a misunderstanding between Yolonda and Rudy leading them to break up, Rudy wanted to push her to do things she wasn't comfortable with and couldn't understand why she didn't want to do those things. Yolonda credits her actions to her beliefs and upbringing that he will never