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.