How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents | Characters

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Character	Description
Yolanda	A poet and writer, Yolanda is the third García sister. She is also called by her childhood nickname, Yoyo, as well as Yo and Joe in the United States. Read More
Carla	Organized and methodical, Carla is the oldest García sister. She becomes a child psychologist as an adult. Read More
Sandra	Artistic and emotionally fragile, Sandra is the second García sister. She's also called by her childhood nickname, Sandi. Read More
Sofía	Rebellious Sofía is the youngest García sister. She's also called by her childhood nickname, Fifi. Read More
Mami	Mami is the girls' mother. Her family name is de la Torre, a prominent family descended from the 16th-century Spanish conquistadors. In some stories she's referred to by her first name, Laura, and in others "the mother." Read More
Papi	The youngest of his father's 35 children, Papi—Carlos Garcia—is the girls' father. In some stories he's referred to by his first name, Carlos, and Mami calls him Lolo, a nickname for Carlos. Read More
Adela	Adela is a maid who works for Tío Mundo and Tía Carmen in the Dominican Republic in 1960.
Alfredo	Alfredo is the Puerto Rican superintendent of the building the Garcías live in when they move to New York City.
Altagracia	Altagracia is a maid who works for the de la Torre family in the 1980s.
Tío Arturo	Tío Arturo is the girls' uncle and Mami's brother.
Tía Asunción	Tía Asunción is an aunt in the girls' extended family.
La Bruja	La Bruja, meaning "the witch," is a nickname the Garcías give to their bigoted downstairs neighbor in Manhattan who uses ethnic slurs and complains about the family's noise.
Baby Carlos	Baby Carlos is Sofía's son. He's given Papi's first name, Carlos.
Tía Carmen	Tía Carmen is the aunt to whom the girls are closest. She becomes head of the family after Tío Mundo's death.
Carmencita	Carmencita is the youngest daughter of Tío Mundo and Tía Carmen. She's close in age to Sofía.
Doña Charito	Married to Don José, Doña Charito is a German woman who teaches art in the Dominican Republic. Sandra and several other cousins take art lessons from her.
Checo	A guard with Trujillo's secret police, Checo investigates the Garcías.
Chino	Chino is a servant in the de la Torre household in the Dominican Republic.
Chucha	Chucha is the de la Torre family's cook in the Dominican Republic. She is a Haitian refugee and practices voodoo.
Clive	Clive is an English instructor who works with Yolanda. The two have an affair until Clive goes back to his wife.
Tía Concha	Tía Concha is an aunt in the girls' extended family.
Rudy Elmenhurst	Yolanda's first college boyfriend, Rudy Elmenhurst, dumps Yolanda after she refuses to sleep with him.
Don Fabio	Don Fabio is the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar (SIM) supervisor to whom Checo and Pupo report.
Dr. Fanning	Dr. Fanning is the American doctor who arranges Papi's medical fellowship in New York.
Mrs. Fanning	Mrs. Fanning is Dr. Fanning's wife. She flirts with and kisses Carlos in a restaurant in New York.
Tía Fidelina	Tía Fidelina is the girls' aunt on their father's side.
Tío Fidelio	Tío Fidelio is the girls' uncle. He participated in the plot to assassinate Trujillo and may have been killed as a result.
Tía Flor	Tía Flor is the girls' aunt and Tío Arturo's wife.
Florentino	Florentino is the de la Torre family's gardener in the Dominican Republic.
Gabriela	Gabriela is Mundín's wife.
Gisela	Gisela is a de la Torre cousin close in age to Sandi.
Gladys	Gladys is a maid who works for the de la Torre family. She leaves after the family suspects her of theft.
Hair-and-nails cousins	These unnamed cousins on Mami's side live in the Dominican Republic. The García girls call them "the hair-and-nails cousins" because of their distinctive, elaborate hair and nail styles.
Victor Hubbard	An American CIA agent, Victor Hubbard works with Carlos, Tío Mundo, and Tío Fidelio on a plot to assassinate Trujillo. When the men are about to be caught, Victor gets Papi and his wife and daughters safely to America.
The hunter	The man with the horse is a hunter who shoots birds illegally on the family's property. He tells Yolanda to be kind to animals and to wait another week before separating the black and white kitten from its mother.
Iluminada	Iluminada is a maid who works for the de la Torre family in the 1980s.
Imaculada	Imaculada is a servant in the de la Torre household in the Dominican Republic.
Tía Isa	Tía Isa is the girls' aunt and Mami's sister. She marries and divorces an American.
John	John is Yolanda's first husband. The two divorce because of a breakdown in communication.
Don José	Don José is a Dominican sculptor who works alone, shackled, and nearly naked, in a shed.
José Duarte Sánchez y Mella	Named after three Dominican patriots, José Duarte Sánchez y Mella is the shy young boy who helps Yolanda gather guavas.
Lucinda	Close in age to Carla, Lucinda is the oldest daughter of Tío Mundo and Tía Carmen.
Mamita	The girls' maternal grandmother, Mamita visits New York City with her husband to cure her health problems.
Man in car	The man in the car is an American who exposes himself to Carla while she's walking home from school.
Man in maternity ward	The man in the maternity ward is a stranger Mami meets when Sofía and Otto's daughter is born.
Manuel Gustavo	Tío Orlando's illegitimate son, Manuel Gustavo dates Sofía when she moves back to the Dominican Republic as a teenager.
Mateo	Mateo is a man who helps Papi and Tío Mundo in the plot against Trujillo.
Men with machetes	The two men with machetes help Yolanda fix her flat tire when she drives to pick guavas.
Milagros	Milagros is a servant who works for the de la Torre family.
Tía Mimí	Tía Mimí is the girls' aunt and Mami's sister. She loves to read and remains unmarried in her late 20s, making her an oddity in the family.
Mundín	Close in age to Yolanda, Mundín is the son of Tío Mundo and Tía Carmen and, because he is a boy, "the prince of the family."
Tío Mundo	Mami's brother Mundo is the girls' uncle and "head of the clan." Politically active and a participant in the plot to assassinate Trujillo, he's caught and jailed and has died by 1989.
Nivea	Nivea, whose nickname comes from the face cream of the same name, is a maid who works for the de la Torre family.
Tío Orlando	The girls' uncle on their father's side, Tío Orlando had an illegitimate child with a woman from the countryside.
Otto	Good-natured and friendly, Otto is a German physicist who marries Sofía.
Paloma	A cousin in the girls' extended family, Paloma is considered the "model" cousin.
Papito	Viewed as a saint by his family, Papito is the girls' maternal grandfather. He represents the Dominican Republic at the United Nations, despite his disagreement with the Trujillo regime.
Dr. Payne	Dr. Payne is the psychiatrist Yolanda consults after her divorce and hospitalization. She's in love with him but doesn't let him know.
Pila	Pila, the Haitian laundry maid who briefly works for the de la Torre family, has blotchy skin and one eye. As a child Yolanda believes Pila causes the coal shed to be haunted.
Primitiva	Primitiva is a maid who works for the García family in the United States.
Pupo	A guard with Trujillo's secret police, Pupo investigates the Garcías.
Ralph	Ralph is the Irish doorman in the building the Garcías live in when they move to New York City.
Schwarz	Schwarz is the name Yolanda gives the kitten she finds in Part 3, Chapter 5.
Dr. Tandlemann	Dr. Tandlemann is the senior staff psychiatrist at Mount Hope, the hospital where Sandra stays for treatment.
Tatica	Tatica is a servant who works for Victor Hubbard in the Dominican Republic.
Woman in cantina	The old woman owns a cantina Yolanda visits on a solo trip through the Dominican countryside.
Sister Zoe	Yolanda's first teacher in an American classroom, Sister Zoe teaches Yolanda several English words.

Context Character Analysis

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