Analysis of Julia Alvarezs How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents - Essay Example

The book just as intently defines the clash between the Hispanic and American cultures. It is a culture clash between the fast-paced American way of life and the more conservative Latin culture of the Dominican Republic, the book tackles, however, the difficulties which come with acculturation is universalareAlvarez points out that the clash stems from the conflict between the changes they need to confront to their new surroundings, and keeping to the customs and traditions of their homeland.

The latter is clearly defined when the doctor and his wife begin sending the girls back home to Santo Domingo for the summer. The summer vacations, along with boarding schools, the Accents 2analyst, couch, and divorce courts are inevitable answers to the revolutionary plots that evolve at home like the discovery of pot, birth control devices, and explicit love letters. Thus, the characters were undergoing a revolution as a family in exile, and an inner revolution amongst themselves as the family tries to adapt to their new home: Dr.

Carlos has to find new patients, his wife Laura has to search for herself now that she is outside the folds of her family in Santo Domingo, while the girls - Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia - lose themselves by ironing their hair, wearing bellbottoms and fringes, and forgetting their Spanish. It is a chronicle about identity, pressure, and coping. Losing an accent is not as simple a matter or a decision as it appears. There are reasons people react to these circumstances. And it also entails responsibilities, both to the old culture left behind for whatever reason and to the new culture needing conformity.

Pressure, conflict, and sacrifices transcend borders, and like people, though these may shed outward disguises that familiarize them with a particular landscape, the cores remain constant. Culture inhabits them.