Snow by Julia Alvarez - Book Report/Review Example

Snow -Julia Alvarez Snow is a short story in Julia Alvarez’s novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. The novel is organized into three books, each of which is in turn divided into five chapters. The story contained in each chapter is narrated from the perspective of a different member of the Garcia family. These members are the four sisters Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia and their parents Carlos and Laura. Snow is found in Chapter 4 of Book II and is told from Yolanda’s point of view. Yolanda is an immigrant and the only international student in the class. She has challenges in word pronunciation, but her teacher readily helps her learn English. The Cuban Missile Crisis takes place while Yolanda is in her fourth grade in the United States. This paper will seek to show that Cuban missile crisis was more traumatic for children in New York than in any other state. The Cuban Missile Crisis arose due to the October 1962 confrontation between America and the Soviet Union following the latter’s deployment of ballistic missiles in Cuba (George 12). It occurred at a time when diplomatic relationships between Cuba and America had loosened, and there was a state of fear by the USA government and its residents. The event almost escalated the Cold War into a full-scale nuclear war. The event lasted thirteen days and was highly televised across the world. Julia says that US president Kennedy looked worried on television. Children such as Yolanda and her classmates watched reports on the Cuba missiles and tension grew all over. At school, Sister Zoe explained to the students what was happening. She even drew pictures of what a bomb explosion looked like (Alvarez 136). Students at Yolanda’s school were taught various aid-raid drills. A special bell would ring, and all students would run into the hall and lie down. From a child’s perspective, a lot of discussion and awareness creation on the issue of the Cuba missiles created an impression that the Cuba missiles were very dangerous. Alvarez claims that the students would cover their heads with coats and the bones in their arms would go soft. This description shows the fear and tremor among the American children. Yolanda was highly traumatized following speculations that the Soviet missiles assembled in Cuba were destined for New York City. Her trauma was worsened by the speculation that the U.S. might be forced to declare war on the Soviet Union. Yolanda’s trauma persisted for months after the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the story, she described the following months of November and December as growing cold (Alvarez 136). This description can be interpreted in two ways. She might be referring to both the weather and the political climate. This explains that even months after the Cuban missile crisis, missile fear was still being explained by USA children and probably even the adults. One morning, as Yolanda was going to school, the weather was frosty, and it was a little bit darker than the other normal days. On that day, she gazed into the window absentmindedly. She probably imagines about the Cuba missiles. She notices fine powder falling from the sky and immediately raises alarm. The teacher, seemingly frightened, runs to where she is and looks outside too. The writer says that some of the other students start crying indicating that such an event would have terrified them. This shows that the events of the Cuba missiles were still stuck in the minds of the New York children even months after the crisis. Yolanda had never seen snow. However, she quickly imagines that the falling dots in the air are missiles. This clearly indicates that terror and fright of the Cuba missile attacks are still fresh in her. The fear in Yolanda and her classmates can be generalized to argue that all the children in the New York were terrified by the Cuba missile attacks. Alice George, in her book Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis, also describes the fear among American children following the Cuban missile crisis. She claims that American children were creating toys of lethal weapons (George, Children of the Cold War 139). Psychologically, children may have done that maybe as a way to protect themselves. Moreover, a report filed in the late 1950 showed that most American children were experiencing nightmares involving nuclear wars. Nightmares result from things that one fears. It can hence be argued that American children feared the missile attacks. George claims that the events of the Cuba missile occurred in a period when TVs were being watched by many US children as a source of entrainment. The harsh realities of the Cuba crisis were shown each day and hence stuck in the minds of US children. Even as President Kennedy grappled with managing the crisis, it appeared the interests of American and other children around the world were close to his heart (George, Children of the Cold War 139). He once claimed that if it were not for America children he would have declared war on the communists. Like every other parent, he also sought to protect his children. To prove his point, time and again images of himself having fun with his children would be broadcast on television. However, with the imminent danger of a nuclear war, it was difficult for his or any other American children to have fun. In emails addressed to the President, American children expressed their fear of an imminent war (George, Children of the Cold War 139). One nine-year-old boy told the President that he did not like his plans and that he was too young to die. This shows the deep fear of war among the American children. Others asked the President to explain the necessity of war. In the end, the children liked their president for averting war. A survey conducted in Detroit shortly after Kennedy's death showed that nearly all of the 1,349 elementary and secondary school involved cited the late President’s aversion to war as a major part of his legacy. An Internet search conducted by the author seems to indicate that the question of the traumatic effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis on children in New York City and elsewhere in the nation has received little research attention from scholars. In fact, one scholar has argued that compared to the September 11 attacks, the Cuban Missile Crisis may have been less traumatic for children for a number of reasons (The National Association of State Mental Health Programs 145). First, in the early 1960s, the penetration of the television was much less compared the turn of the twenty-first century. As a result, it is probable that fewer children were exposed to the 1962 crisis than those who watched the events of the 9/11 attacks. Secondly, the 1962 crisis was more overt than the 9/11 attacks that were planned and carried out in sheer secrecy, thereby taking everyone by surprise. Logical as the author's arguments are, they are not persuasive to the extent that they are not backed by empirical data. Thus, the traumatic influence on children of the 1962 crisis cannot be discounted on the basis of these arguments. Every major historical event affects different people in different places differently. In addition, while the effects of an event may be felt by several generations, it is the generation or generations that experience the event first hand that is affected the most both psychologically and in all other aspects. Still, research has shown that the younger a person is when they experience the event, the longer the memory of the event lasts in their mind (The National Association of State Mental Health Programs 42). For instance, the American who grew up during the Great Depression is likely to be haunted by the fear of not having enough to eat. Consequently, even in the absence of empirical evidence, it is logical to argue that of all American children, those who lived in New York City were the most traumatized by the imminent danger of a nuclear attack on the city. Indeed, a few months after the incident, Yolanda is greatly terrified by snowfall that she mistakes for a bomb. Information regarding the effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 limited and highly fragmented. However, from the few sources accessed, especially Alice George's book, it is clear that the event induced the fear of an imminent nuclear war in American children. As far as the thesis statement is concerned, the accessed sources, other than the one with the short story, do not provide direct evidence to support the claim that New York City children were the most traumatized. Clearly, this is an area scholars need to pay close research attention to. In conclusion, it is clear that the Soviet missiles that were directed to the New York City highly affected the children in living in New York. The effect on the missile attack on the New York children is more as compared to that of children in other states. Children in New York were more exposed the risks that the missiles would cause and thus were more affected. The experience of Yolanda and her classmates shows the extent of the trauma that the Cuba miles caused. Works Cited Read More