Garcia Girls Essay

Culture, stereotypes, and relationships are a part of our every day lives, but these every day things tend to change and be influenced by the course of our lives. Past events from a period time such as childhood can affect a person's views on relationships. If a person moves countries that can affect their views on culture and your gender and race can affect the stereotypes which you face. In the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez culture, stereotypes, and relationships are shown and reflected by the lives of the four sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia.

Culture plays an important role in the novel. The story takes place in the United States and the Dominican Republic, where the views on certain subjects differ a lot. For example, in the vignette "Antojos", Yolanda returns back to Dominican Republic and as she is greeted by her family she is looked at in a weird way. Her family, especially the eldest ones pay attention specifically to how she acts and how her Spanish has changed. Lucinda asks Yolanda about her sisters and how they are. She begins to respond,

"In halting Spanish, Yolanda reports on her sisters. When she reverts to English, she is scolded, 'En espanol!' The more she practices, the sooner she'll be back into her native tongue, the aunts insist. Yes, and when she returns to the States, she'll find herself suddenly going blank over some word in English or, like her mother, mixing up some common phrase. This time however Yolanda is not so sure she'll be going back. But that is a secret." (7).

Yolanda has some trouble with her Spanish and that is what leads her relatives to believe that her time in the United States has not done her good. They are considering to keep her in the Dominican Republic in order to tye her back with her Latin roots. In most Latin cultures it is a custom for every family member to be able to speak fluent Spanish and know how things happen in their home country. The eldest family members tend to be the ones that get extremely uptight by staying close to their roots because they have lived their entire lives in their country and they expect to see the younger generations to respect that and keep that tradition going. For the elders, to see the younger generations forgot about their cultures is like a slap to the face fore the elders. It is as if everything they worked and fought for is gone. They lose respect for the younger ones. This what sort of happened between Sofia and her father.

In the vignette "The kiss" the relationship between Sofia and her father is introduced when Sofia decides to have her father's birthday party at her house. It was not planned to be at her house but Sofia insisted, "And yet, she,of all the daughters, did not want to be the absent one because for the first time since she'd run off with her husband six years ago, she and her father were on speaking terms. In fact, the old man had been out to see her - or really to see his grandson - twice." (26). Sofia and her father have not had the best of relationships, but recently they have been speaking to each other. He may be speaking to her because the fact she has a boy or maybe because he has finally let their differences aside. Her father has chosen not to speak to her because as a child she ran way from home with her husband, but I believe that there was more to this story, but the book did not reveal the true source of their dis functional relationship. I think that the overall relationship between men and women has to do with the reason behind this relationship.

In the novel, the overall relationship between men and women is that men tend to be on the top and have the final word in everything while women are to just shut up and listen. This is exemplified when Sofia is forced to stay a year in the Dominican Republic for getting caught with a bag of weed. While in the Dominican Republic, she gets into an abusive relationship with her cousin Manuel. One day he sees her reading a book and he responds by taking it away, "'This,' Manuel Gustavo says, holding the book up like a dirty diaper, 'is junk in your head. You have better things to do.' He tosses the book on the coffee table." (120). This is a clear example of how men in the Dominican Republic tend to abuse their women by not allowing them to read and have an education. Not only does he strip her of her education, but he also strips her clothes off and forces her to have sex with him. Like in the Dominican Republic, many Latin countries tend to have their men on the top and the women on the bottom. It is a sad reality, but men do hold the upper hand and I believe that many women just live their lives with this sad fact, not attempting to change or fight back. Sofia attempted to to fight back against this, but at the end of the day I believe that this relationship in particular is what shapes Sofia into the adult that she is.

In conclusion, How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents  tells the compelling story of culture, stereotypes, and relationships through the lives of these four sisters. Culture is reflected by Yolanda's visit back to the Dominican Republic. Relationships are reflected by the relationship between Sofia and her father. Finally, stereotypes are shown by the fact that men are seen as the top dog and are superior to women. Overall, this was a very good and intriguing book.

Garcia Girls # 3

OK so I have finally read the third and final part of the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents and I have to say that I am a little disappointed. I am a little disappointed because I feel that the story on an "eh" note like I feel that the ending could have been so much more better. The story just ended like with no real concrete ending. I was also disappointed by the fact that I found this part to be just like the first part in that there is no really feeling or story. It is just basically a description of their childhood and the description is not even that good. I find it to be vague. I did not find a direct connection between the second and third parts. This last part did not help a lot in understanding what had happened later in their lives. For example, the first and second parts focused a good amount of time on the crumbling relationship between Sofia and her father, but there was no clear reason why their relationship was crumbling. I hoped to find that answer in the last part of the story, but I never found that reason Overall I feel that the true story and juicy parts occurred in the second part of the book. That personally was my most favorite part and I feel that the first and third parts were kind of like fillers. I feel that Alvarez intended to end to end the book like that to keep us thinking. I don not think she wanted us to get the whole story.

Regardless of the fact that I did not like the ending it was a good book. I would have to say that it is one  of the better books that I have read. At first I found the whole backwards chronological thing to be confusing, I ended getting used to it and it turned out to be interesting. I really liked it and well besides the ending I did not have much complaints.

Response to Sluts and Pimps

Finally after going through minutes of searching on google reader, I finally found a quote that was worth writing about. Karen wrote about how men are considered pimps and how women are considered sluts.

Why is it that it's okay for males to do these things and talk about it like in raps,etc. but for women it is frowned upon? Some people said because women end up with consequences like for example ending up pregnant. But my brother called her slut for playing them, not taking in any sexual activity. Some other people said because it's more common for a girl to be the ones who are cheated on and get their heart broken and since it's kind of uncommon for guys to get their hearts broken, they get pity. I still don't know why this happens.

I think that part of this answer comes from religion or culture. In many religions, such the Muslim one, it is a custom and tradition for a male to have multiple wives. It is not frowned upon, instead it is celebrated when a man gets his second, third, fourth, and so on wives. But when a women has multiple partners it is not only frowned upon, but it is also punishable.

I think that both men and women should be seen and treated the same way when regarding their relationships and love lives. It is not a person's fault that they have been with many people. Some people have been with many people in attempt to find that right person. I justify this reason to have multiple partners because some people are just unlucky with love and they have to search hard for years to find that right person. It is not like the person wanted multiple partners, it just happened.

At the end of the day there is only really one person who is perfect for you. That person may be right next to you or on the other side of the world. It may take days, weeks, months, years, or decades to find this person. Anyways the moral of this is that there are no pimps and sluts. It is all some five star bull shit that society has filled our heads with.

The issue of violence in Oakland

I am tired of hearing about the on going violence that has destroyed the city of Oakland. People need to grow up and learn how to deal with their problems in a peaceful and formal way. Violence can not be the response to everything because that will only make the cycle of violence continue.

This was really pointed out to me the other day when I was flipping through the TV channels and I came upon this show named gang wars. This show caught my attention in particular because it was talking about the gangs and violence in Oakland. The show specifically focused on the cycle of violence. Whenever one act of of violence was committed it would be responded to by another act of violence. It is a sad truth that many people in Oakland have to deal with. Violence does not solve anything it only brings even more pain and suffering. It is sad to see teens my age getting caught up in this violence. It sickens me to think that they are just throwing away their lives for what a gun, power, females, toughness. I can only imagine what their families think of them. They destroy any chance they have of succeeding in life by getting up in this violence. It may not always be their fault, but still, they cannot fall into the never ending cycle that is violence.

It is difficult to keep yourself out of this cycle of violence. It is only human nature to retaliate against someone when they do something to you. It is an instinct that we all have and I believe that is extremely difficult to resist. It is possible to escape this cycle of violence though, but it is difficult. In order to escape this violence a person must first suck up the pride they have inside of them and except the fact that they will not retaliate in a violent way. The situation must be analyzed and a peaceful solution must be thought of

I believe that through understanding and calm thinking, the violence in Oakland and other places will hopefully decrease.

Garcia Girls Part 2

After reading the second part of How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents I feel more engaged into the story. In the first part I did not feel so engaged because the story of the four girls adulthood was kind of boring. I had no real idea of how the girls got to be how they were as adults, but now after reading the second part I have a much clearer understanding of their lives.

Let me start of by talking about Sofia. In the first part of the story it was sated that Sofia had a rocky relationship with her father, but it was not clear how their relationship became this way. Through reading the second part I think that I am finally starting to see the relationship between her younger years and her relationship with her father as an adult. During one summer she had brought some weed to the house and as she was about to light it up with her sisters, her mother came and Sofia just managed to hide it before her mother saw. It was a fatal mistake because she forgot the weed and later on her mom had discovered it and Sofia admitted to it being hers even though her sisters attempted to also take the blame. She was punished by having to live an entire year in the Dominican Republic. While in the Dominican Republic she completely, she began to dress like the Dominican women and she got into an abusive relationship with Manuel, one of her relatives. She was forced into having sex with him and I believe that this one year she spent in the Dominican Republic is what caused her to runaway which is what made her dad lose respect for her.

I think that when the sisters went to the Dominican Republic they realized how grateful they were to live in the United States because in the Domincan Republic there was heavy sexism towards women. This ties into Latin cultural in general because in Latin cultural there is the idea that men are dominant force and women are supposed to obey them at all times. In many cases the men are abusive and often cheat on their wives. I believe that the girls in the Dominican Republic look up to the sisters and I think that they want to be like them. To be able to experience the American life.

Overall, I find the second part of the story to be much more engaging and interesting than the first part. Reading the second part has helped to understand the story as a whole.

While looking through Google Reader I fell on this quote from Shiyun,

Does our image really matter that much in our lives? I think that we are too focused in our appearances rather than our who we really are. I started to realize that most of us care about being liked by others around us or wants to be praised for their looks. In Mrs. Corbally's class, I  have learned a lot about the feeling that people have for their image. I was really surprised when I watched the videos about being too fat or people that are suffering through anorexia thought so much about their weight. It gave me a whole different perspective of this matter that I have never thought about.

I one hundred percent agree with what Shiyun has said in this quote because my perception of image has changed after I saw the films about image and eating in Mrs. Corbally"s class. At first I thought Image was something that all people worried about, but I never thought for some people was everything and they were willing to go to extreme measures to obtain this image. These films opened my eyes to how the media perceives the ideal image and how many teenagers, not so far from my age, have had issues with their image. I used to always think that anorexia was just a physical disease, but it also a phychological disease. Looking at these people who are a little older or younger than me really hits me because that could have possibly been me.

I do believe that image plays an important role in our lives, but people can try to look past image and look at something much more deep. I feel that if a person gets caught up too much in their image then are much more pron to developing anorexia, bulimia, and other diseases. That is why I think it is important to be conscious about your image, but not to the point where you go crazy. I also feel that we, as friends of people who have these problems can help by supporting them

Free write about mind trap

Wendsday during English we received a mind trap that was very open to interpretation. The topic was about a group of friends who always went to the sauna, but one day Dave was found dead in the sauna and the autopsy did not reveal anything about his death. The only information that was given was that Abe listened to his headphones, Bud read magazines, Dave just talked about his girlfriend, and Carl brought a thermos filled with ice water. This is my interpretation of what really happened to Dave.

Carl had grown extremely tired and annoying of Dave always talking about his girlfriend. The ironic part of that was that Carl had an affair with Dave's girlfriend. He could not stand Dave's bragging and he knew that the only way he would have his girlfriend all to himself was to take Dave out for good. That day Abe, Bud, Carl, and Dave decided to go to the sauna as usual. Abe and Bud were to busy and distracted to notice what was about to happen. While Dave was blabbering about his girlfriend, Carl slowly opened his thermos and pulled out a knife that he had carved out of the ice right before they went inside. While the other two were distracted, Carl lunged himself to Dave and covered his mouth and stabbed him right through the heart. Dave fell to the ground and Carl walked back to where he was. The steam from the sauna quickly covered up the body of Dave. The other two had notice a thing until they left and noticed that Dave was no where to be found. They went back inside only to find the lifeless body of Dave on the ground.

The police was called and a detective arrived. The detective processed to access the crime scene, but no evidence was found. She then asked the others if they knew anything, but there were no clues. The autopsy did not reveal anything about the murder because The ice knife that was used to kill him melted thous leaving no evidence behind. With no evidence or leads the case was closed. Carl had pulled off the perfect murder.

First Impreesions of "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents"

So far I find "How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents" to be an interesting stoy. It is different from other stories I have read because it doesnt go in chronological order. Instead it goes from the present to the past. Kind of a like a flashback, but except this falshback is large and is basically how the book/story is orginized.

By just reading the first section I can already kind of see a theme going on in the story. The theme that I am seeing is the relationship between men and women. The author, Julia Alvarez, attempts to convey this realtionship between men and women through the life of Sofia.

In the vignette or chapter "The kiss" I can an introduction to Sofia's father and the realtionship he hols with Sofia. The vignettes sates that Sofia and her father do not have a very good relationship. They have barely begun to talk again when the vignette takes place. Sofia attempts to rebuild her relationship by having her father's birthday party at her house. We also get a look at Sofias past in this vignette. She ran away when she was young and had multiple boyfriends which she slept with. When her father learned this he swore that he would never speak to her again. I think this whole situation foreshadows or in this books case it preshadows to Sofias past with her father. I believe that Sofai was abused by her father and that is what leads to her dating issues.

Another theme that I find so far is the way in which Dominican Republicans view life in the us. For example, in the vignette "Antojo" when Yolanda returns from the United States her family views her in a different. They take the fact that she had not come back to the Dominican Republic in so long as a sign that she was losing her ties to her roots and cultural.

Overall thr Garcias is an interesting book that I look for ward to finishing.