Yolanda Symbolism

Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist who rose to fame and prominence with her bildungsroman novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. The second youngest from her sisters, Yolanda is a woman who is quite unique and the most imaginative even though each of her sisters have their own split personality. Being that she’s a schoolteacher by profession, a poet and writer by heart, Yolanda is considered the genius sister, the child whose mother saw her becoming famous as an adult. In Julia Alvarez’s novel, Yolanda’s identity is explored and is the utmost developed character. In this particular scene, Yolanda suffers from a mental breakdown from a heartbreak causing her inability to write; Alvarez’s use of symbolism,

Alvarez writes, “Deep within her, something stirs, an itch she can’t get to….But the beating inside her is more desperate than hunger, a moth wild inside a lampshade,” (Page 83) showcasing the black bird attempting to remove itself from Yolanda’s body. Before Yolanda regurgitates the black bird, she is overwhelmed with a sexual attraction towards Dr. Payne, her therapist; the black bird swirling inside of her represents her desires. Yolanda’s character exploits her attraction and being affectionate towards Dr. Payne, but is unable to express those feelings towards him because the bird is preventing her to do so. In addition, the black bird signifies Yolanda’s inability to communicate because she believes that her words will harm the people she cares about. The bird symbolizes the manifestation of Yolanda’s words: “Delight and surprise are written all over its wing grin. It plummets down towards the sunning man on the lawn. Beak first, a dark and secret complex, a personality disorder let loose on the work, it plunges! ‘Oh no,’ Yo wails. ‘No, not him!’…And now, down it dives towards the man she wants immune to her words’’ (Page 84). The bird attacking Dr. Payne displays Yolanda’s fear of her own words, the fear that the language she speaks will hurt her loved ones. She is threatened of the hostile words that will transpire from her, and due to her dismay she will harm everyone around her. Her character develops as someone who is fearful of her highly advanced intelligence, and that her fear will consume her identity of never being able to communicate properly again. The black bird is used once again as a representation of Yolanda’s mental distress. Alvarez states, “Satiated, the dark bird rises and joins a rolling cluster of rain clouds in the northern sky,” (Page