Cisneros 1 Christopher Cisneros English 1102 Mrs. Williams November 28, 2017 Julia Alvarez Julia Alvarez’s speaks of what is gained and what is lost when having to assimilate to a new culture. She writes books and poems to demonstrate how challenging it is for someone to adapt to a new way of life. Many of Alvarez’s work is about what she had gone through and of situations she has learned about. Changing traditions, language, and culture at any moment in life is challenging. Cultural assimilation is having to understand a different culture than what one is accustomed to and unwillingly having to change or face discrimination. In Julia Alvarez's, “ How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”, she describes a different family member in each chapter of the book. The sequence is told in reverse from adulthood to childhood. In the first chapter, Yolando returns to the Dominican Republic after five years. Yolanda knows she will not fit in with her family who are at the family reunion, “Yolanda sees herself as they will, shabby in a black cotton skirt and jersey top, sandals on her feet, her wild black hair held back with a hairband” (Alvarez, page 3). Yolanda thinks that her cousins will think she looks like a missionary girl and stick out. She isn’t wearing the same clothes they wear or have the same hair style. Her family treats her as she is an outsider, a super star, and even “Miss America”. One of Yolanda's cousins tells her she's “too thin, and the hair needs the cut” (Alvarez, page 3). Yolanda is being judged right off the back. Within seconds her whole native family of the island notices how different Dominicans from the United States look. Yolanda soon notices how her assimilating to the American culture hinders her when she returns to her own
Want to read all 5 pages?
Previewing 2 of 5 pages Upload your study docs or become a member.
Want to read all 5 pages?
Previewing 2 of 5 pages Upload your study docs or become a member.
End of preview
Want to read all 5 pages? Upload your study docs or become a member.