Summary Of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents By Julia Alvarez

As a diverse country that the United States is, many of the new generations are becoming mixtures of different countries. There is always a great deal taking place when immigrants migrate to another country especially in the United States since it is a melting pot. When first arriving to a new country, the immigrants tend to still follow their tradition because they still want to be a perfect representation of their origin country; in this case it would be Dominican from the book “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”. Although, they are now living in a new country where “change” plays a huge role in their lives. The Garcia family are open to change because they want to form part in the U.S. since Dominican Republic is going through major

Alternatively if you do not feel that way automatically the only option left is to change your customs and become an American. According to Alvarez, “By then, I was lapsed Catholic; my sisters and I had been pretty well Americanized since our arrival in this country a decade before, so really, I didn’t have a good excuse” (87). Yolanda had already set her mind that she was only an American and she was pursuing her life as that so she had no reason not to try all the American ways like all the other Americans. Her mind was changed from her tradition by thinking this way. In Alvarez’s view, “For the hundredth time, I cursed my immigrant origins” (94). In other words, Yolanda just wishes she was born in the United States rather than being born in Dominican because she was having troubles adapting as an American. All that Yolanda wanted was to change from her traditions and be accepted by her

All of the girls are lost in between both countries tradition and they cannot choose between the traditions without disappointing everybody in their family. According to Alvarez, “ I would never find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles” (99). Indicating that the girls specifically Yolanda is accepting that she lost her identity in both countries because she has to live with two different traditions according to where she currently is. In Alvarez’s view, “But hey,we might be fish out of water, but at least we had escaped the horns of our dilemma to a silver lining, as Mami might say” (108). The girls had dealt with both countries for a few year already and they still feel like an outsider. Honestly for them it seems convenient because they have reasonable excuses that exempts them from situations in some case scenario. For example all the children that deal with traditions from two different countries know this scenario because they have been dealing with this including myself. It is actually a great opportunity to be part of two traditions since you are exploring something new and being a part of