Sami Goutr DR. Michael Marotto ENG 1011 28/04/2021 Julia Alvarez story in the United States Julia Alvarez talks about what is gained and what is lost in assimilating to a new culture. She writes books and poems to show how difficult it is for someone to adapt to a new way of life. Much of Alvarez's work is about what she's been through and about situations she learned. Change traditions, language, and culture at any time of life challenges. Cultural assimilation is understanding a culture that is different from what you are accustomed to changing or being discriminated against without their knowledge. In Julia Alvarez, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," she describes another family member in each chapter of the book. The sequence is told backward from adulthood to childhood. In the first chapter, Yolando returns to the Dominican Republic after five years. Yolanda knows she won't fit in with her family who is 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 her cousins are going to think she looks like a missionary girl and stands out. She doesn't wear the same clothes as them or have the same hairstyle. Her family treats her like a stranger, a superstar, and even "Miss America". One of Yolanda's cousins tells her that she is “too thin, and the hair needs the cut” (Alvarez, page 3).
