Julia Alvarez
Bibliography
Course Hero. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Study Guide." Course Hero. 13 Feb. 2018. Web. 4 Oct. 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/How-the-Garcia-Girls-Lost-Their-Accents/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2018, February 13). How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved October 4, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/How-the-Garcia-Girls-Lost-Their-Accents/
In text
(Course Hero, 2018)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Study Guide." February 13, 2018. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/How-the-Garcia-Girls-Lost-Their-Accents/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Study Guide," February 13, 2018, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/How-the-Garcia-Girls-Lost-Their-Accents/.
Julia Alvarez
1991
Novel
Fiction
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents is a collection of stories narrated in both first and third person from multiple characters' points of view, including each of the four García daughters.
Narrators of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents tell their stories in both the present and past tenses.
In How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, the García girls are the four sisters the novel follows from childhood to adulthood. After they emigrate from the Dominican Republic to the United States as children, the girls grow accustomed to American life, learning English and forgetting Spanish, their native language. Eventually they lose the Spanish accents from their English speech. Because accented speech is a strong indicator of ties to another language and culture, the loss of the accent represents a distancing from cultural roots.
Alvarez invented the title when her editor asked her to summarize the book. Alvarez emphasizes that cultural transition is one of loss, saying the characters must "leave something behind" to join another culture.
This study guide and infographic for Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents offer summary and analysis on themes, symbols, and other literary devices found in the text. Explore Course Hero's library of literature materials, including documents and Q&A pairs.
Have study documents to share about How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents? Upload them to earn free Course Hero access!
