Garcia Girls Book Review

     Throughout her novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez uses a unique style of writing that contributes to the weaknesses of the book and its difference when compared to books with similar genres.

     The author’s writing style can only be described as unique because of the distinctive organization and development of this novel’s storyline. If an individual simply picks up this book and starts reading, confusion would most likely rise immediately because of the reversed storyline organization, inconsistent character viewpoints, and unclear character descriptions and events.

     For one, the story does not progress through the usual chronological order but instead, starts in the present and moves backwards so that the narration in the next vignette – or maybe even as soon as the next paragraph – would have happened before what the reader has just read. This style of writing can sometimes throw the reader off because the reader has to constantly keep in mind that the detail they just read had happened further back in time than the detail they had read before that detail. Although I do not have a problem with this reversed chronological order in the storyline, I sometimes find it hard to follow the before and after of the stories and vignettes.

     The second thing is the inconsistent viewpoints. Although Alvarez does give the names of the characters who play a part in narrating the vignette it is sometime had to differentiate between two characters that might both play a part in narrating in the same vignette. For example, in the vignette “The Four Girls” in the first section, the author lists that Carla, Yolanda, Sandra, and Sofia may be narrating but the story wavers between all four characters so that the reader cannot truly pinpoint the character that is telling the story. In this sense, the story becomes more of a third-person narration and it seems inconsistent when other vignettes have one character telling the story and is made clear who the vignette’s focus is on.

     The third writing style Alvarez uses is that she does not introduce the characters who are playing a role in the vignette at the beginning. She dives straight into the story and leaves the reader to figure out which character is telling the story as though the reader already knows what happened in the story. This can be exemplified in the last vignette of the third section, “The Drum.” The reader can find out that the focus of the vignette would be on Yolanda because it is written underneath the title but the vignette does not start out focused on Yolanda and is writing in first-person perspective.

It was a drum Mamita brought back from a trip to New York, a magnificent drum, its sides bright red, criss-crossed by gold wire held down by gold button heads, its top and bottom white. [...] "Ah," I sighed, for in the hollow at the center, two drumsticks were stored. (pg. 275).

     Here, it is easy to see that the first paragraph if the vignette practically has no connection with Yolanda, who is supposedly the focus of the vignette. The paragraph mainly describes about the drum and only refers to Yolanda through the usage of the word “I.” In addition, the use of that “I” does not even identify who is talking because the only character that is introduced in Mamita. This causes confusion because it leads to no clear or concise understanding of who the character is and what the character’s relationship is with the other characters or objects that may be or are also introduced. Therefore, I think that the author’s style of writing leads to the surfacing of some confusion which in turn leads to the novel’s weakness.

     The weaknesses of the book basically consists of what I mentioned above because I believe the weakness derives for the confusion that takes place due to the author’s unique style of writing. The most confusing aspects of this book seem to reside within the vignettes and the organization because of the three reasons mentioned above: the reversed storyline organization, inconsistent character viewpoints, and unclear character descriptions and events. In addition, there seems to be no connections between the order in which the vignettes appears except for the knowledge that what happens towards the end of the book happened before what took place in the beginning of the book. The story jumps around and there does not seem to be a pattern that derives from the incidents. Although I understand that the author may have written this novel because she might be relating back to her life, trying to make the book seem more realistic by connecting it the way an individual’s memories might surface – out of nowhere and without a pattern – makes the comprehension of the storyline challenging. Therefore, I think that the weaknesses of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents derive from the unusual writing style that the author uses throughout her essay.

     I think the only book that I have read that has a similar genre to How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents may be The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. The most obvious reason why these two books are similar is because of the novel’s structure through the use of vignettes and because of the focus on mainly one character. Although one relates to Latin American culture and the other relates to the Dominican Republic, both characters essentially show growth. Esperanza, the main character in The House on Mango Street, is shown to be restricted by her community but eventually leaves the town she lives in. This is similar to Yolanda because Yolanda is at first restricted to what she can and cannot do by her parents but as she began to lose touch with her native culture and adapt the American culture, she gains a sense of freedom. In short, a common theme that both novel touch upon is a character’s life being restricted in some way at the beginning but soon gains freedom as the character learns more about society and the world. Although similar, these two books are also very different from one another because The House on Mango Street can symbolize oppression while How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents can symbolize change.

The Garcia Girls Three

     I have to admit that the ending of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez was a bit of a disappointment. I thought that the book would end on an interesting note or something like that; however, reality proved to differ. The book had to end with a vignette about a girl, a kitten, and a drum - hate to say this sarcastically, but that is a very dramatic ending for a book that was branded "confusing". The ending does not essentially explain anything.
     For one, I thought that the third section of the book should show how the Garcia Girls became who they are in the second section but it does not. I can see how the first vignette of the third section can lead to the second section because it relates to the reason to why the Garcia family had to leave the Dominican Republic in the first place, but I do not see how the remaining four vignettes relate to the transition between the two countries. In short, the last four vignettes seemed to be unrelated to what the rest of the book seemed to be about.
     On the other hand, I think the last vignette of the third section, The Drum, may relate a bit to Yolanda growth. The vignette is about how Yolanda finds this litter of kittens and wants one of them so she dumps the cat into her drum and makes a racket as she goes home so that the mother cat does not notice her kidnapping the kitten. When she gets home, Yolanda gets tired of the kitten and cold-heartedly abandons it by tossing it into the garden and ignoring it. The vignette does not explain if the kitten dies or not, but it notes that Yolanda begins to have nightmares about the mother cat haunting her. Then it says that Yolanda has these nightmares on and off for years and finally disappears when the family moved to the United States but it still occasionally reappears in Yolanda's stories and art. I think this last vignette may hint at this memory reappearing in front of Yolanda and influencing her life slightly, but not enough to prevent her from fulfilling her goals.

Response to Future

     Shiyun's post about the future contain many points about how we are unable to fix and change our past; however, we can make decisions that would lead us to a better future.

There is no way I would know what my future will be like, for I have to decide that myself. For every decision that I make in life, there will be a result to things. No one can really change what they have done or go back to the past and start over again. We will also have to look at the road ahead and make better decisions.

     Here, Shiyun states that the future includes many possibilities and every decision we make can lead to a variety of outcomes. She also states that the past could not be changed no matter what we do, and the best solution is to move on and to make better decisions if the ones made in the past led to mistakes. Shiyun's indications are correct. Even if someone tries to remain in the past, they will have to sooner or later face reality and that time continues to move even though they wish that time can stop.
    There is a saying that I have heard of before and it was something similar to this: wounds heal as time pasts, whether they are scars on the body, heart, or soul. I think this somehow relates to the talk about the future because people move on. Even if they want to remain in the past, even if they do not want to face reality, even if they do not want to accept that something has changed, everyone will eventually have to make a decision in what they are going to do.
     On the other hand, trying to remain in the past can also be connected to the future because a future is basically the choices made by individuals when it comes to deciding about what they want to do. Although I do not know if there are things such as fate and destiny, I do not think anyone but the individuals themselves chooses their future.

Justice

     I found this post on David's blog and I thought that it was an interesting topic to comment on:

In the case of Johannes Mehserle shooting Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale Bart station back on New Year's Eve on 2008, Johannes Mehserle was only sentenced to the minimum jail time of 2 years. I thought that this case was not fair at all. Any form of murder should have resulted in at least moderate amount of time of about 8 years.

     I agree with David when he states that the sentencing Mehserle received at the end of the trial was unfair. Although I understand that there were still a lot of uncertainty, confusion, and controversy around the subject of what truly happened during the day the shooting of Grant at the Bart station took place, I do not believe that it is reasonable to only sentence Mehserle to a two year imprisonment. The reason for this belief is simple: I find that it is simply unfair for a man to lose only two years of his life and freedom in prison when he has taken away everything another individual was, is, and could have been due to a "mistake" made that could or could not have been avoided.
     In addition, the reinforcement of this sentencing is also unfair because Mehserle does not have to serve the full two years in prison. For his sentencing, the judge included the time Mehserle already spent in prison before the final decision for the sentence was made and the judge also rules in "good behavior" and "double credit" - where one day in prison is equal to two days - as factors to subtract the amount of days Mehserle has to remain in jail. I simply find this sentencing unjust; however, it is the final decision ruled by the count.
     There is a quote that states "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life." If this theory was followed when this case was judged, then the sentencing that would be considered fair for Mehserle is if he received the death sentence or lifetime imprisonment penalty. Maybe then would I will think the sentencing is fair.

The Garcia Girls Two

     Today, during the Socratic Seminar - or whatever Sutherland now calls it for his class - my group realized that the title, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, may actually be referring to how the Garcia Girls lost their innocence. We came to this idea after we discussed the second section of the book and clarified the organization of the book because innocence is a common theme that arises in both the first and second section of the book, and because the second section presents the circumstances faced by the sisters that impact and lead them into becoming the characters they are in the first section.
     At first, when my group started discussing about the second section, we looked at the third vignette where Carla, the oldest of the four sisters, met this practically naked man in a car on her way home. My group talked about whether this was the point of time where Carla lost her innocence or not because she experienced something that did not impact her life positively.
     Next, we re-clarified that the story moves from present to past so the second section of the book actually happened before the first section and the third section happened before the second section. As we clarified this, we noted that the second section is related to the sisters losing their innocence because they did and experienced things they were not suppose to yet, and the first section was about the sisters after they had lost their innocence. Using these two details we noticed, we predicted that the third section will be about the four sisters before they lost their innocence because that section of the book may be about the time where the family was still on the "Island" because the conflict that forced them to move to the United States had not happened yet.
     Then, we noticed that the sisters losing their innocence can be related to the title of the book because as the Garcia sisters adapted to life in the United States, they lost touch with their native culture, leading them to the loss of their "accents," and they experienced things that were not exactly describable, leading to the sisters' loss of innocence.

Response to Autumn

     In Crystal's post, she talks about her second-favored season, which is Autumn, and why she likes this season:

Autumn is also one of my favorite seasons of the year, next to winter. It is a time when the weather finally begins to cool down after a hot and humid summer. Autumn invokes a relaxing feeling, probably partly due to the typical landscape scenes associated with this season. When one thinks of autumn, one would think of brightly colored leaves slowly cascading down from trees, flooding the floor with red, orange, and yellow tones. I think that these landscapes are primarily the reason why I like autumn so much. 

     In a sense, I agree with her - Autumn is a season where the weather "begins to cool down" and "invokes a relaxing feeling". However, it is also a season where individuals are likely to catch the flu because of the unpredictable weather patterns and temperature changes that associate with this season.
     Autumn is s season of uncertainty - with Spring as its partner. The temperature for early mornings and late nights can be freezing cold while mid-afternoon can be smoking hot. This inconsistency in the weather is what cause individuals to become vulnerable to the seasonal flu since the body has to have its internal and body temperature balanced with the temperature of external factors.
     In addition, Crystal states her favored past-time during this season:

During these days, I feel like doing nothing else but curling up with a good book or taking a walk down the park while listening to relaxing music.

     I entirely agree with this quote. Autumn is usually one of the seasons where I do not wish to concentrate in school. I become lazy and do not wish to do anything except for staying at home and becoming lazy. The best thing to do in a season where the weather is becoming cooler is to simply enjoy life and the things I would do consists of sleeping in late, reading good books, listening to music, getting online, and finding time to think about questions you never think about. Maybe the late point only apply to me; however, I think it is both calming and interesting to just sit there and think about things I have never thought of - or never thought of thinking of - and just think.

Image

     For the past week or so, Mrs. Corbally has been showing videos in class about individuals who have problems with their eating habits and dilemma over their appearance. In her post, Shiyun states that the American criticism upon beauty and how individuals judge others derive from American culture:

I think that it is not largely their fault that they think that way. It is usually because of our culture and how we judge people. I don't blame people that want to be skinny just to fit in. I think I kind of understand how they feel, although I have never went through this experience before.

     Here, Shiyun hints that individuals often have a desire - a crave - to fit in with their peers and are willing to go through extreme methods - in this case, diets - in order to obtain their ideal body. Although she does not explain how culture impacts the way society judges individuals based upon their appearance, she notes that individuals are more often judged by their physical structure than not. In truth, no one wishes to be isolated from the "popular crowd" simply because they do not look a certain way, so individuals who were once rejected by others often end up trying to find a way to become popular even if it means risking their health.
     In addition, I agree with Shiyun when she states popularity is not necessarily gained through appearance but through a warm personality:

To me I don't think that appearance matters a lot to me and I would not judge someone without getting to know them first. I don't think people like you just because you are skinny, but rather it is your personality that really matters. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. We should never give ourselves put downs that make us feel bad about our body or even ourselves.

     Individuals all have various differences and this uniqueness often comes with the experiences the individual endures throughout their life. Some traits are determined at birth, like gender, while others or not, such as physical images and personalities. Either way, the decision of changing who that individual is and whether they wish to become "skinny" or not is decided by the individuals themselves.

The Garcia Girls

     The book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, is written in a unique fashion. For one, the way the story progress is not through the usual chronological order, nor does it include a style where there are flashbacks. The story just starts at a point in time and begins to move towards the past rather than moving towards the future. This style is quite unusual to me because the books I have read often consist of the author telling the story through a flashback or through a plot where the story follows a chronological timeline in order to reach the climax.
     However, the most confusing aspect of this book seems to reside within the vignettes. The author never really introduces the characters and leaves the reader to figure out who they are themselves. This causes a lot of confusion because it leads to no clear or concise understanding of who the character is and what the character's relationship is with the other characters in the book. In addition, there seems to be no connections in the order in which the vignettes appear. The story jumps around and there does not seem to be a pattern. I understand that this may make it seem more realist to the way individuals' memories often surface - out of nowhere and without a pattern - but it makes the story really challenging to comprehend. For example, in the first section of the book, the story jumps Yolanda's point of view to Sofia's, then to the perspective of all four sisters, and finally back to Yolanda. This inconsistent pattern of perspectives also causes a lot of confusion because the reader has to remember that it is a different character telling the story and that each of the four sisters has different relationships concerning their love-life.
     Moreover, the vignettes often more straight into a story and does not take the time to give the reader the background information about what is happening. Although I do not really mind this style of writing the author uses, it gets tiring after a while because it starts to feel painful trying to read a book that requires the reader to think and form connections in order to understand the setting. Books like How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent take time to read in order to grasp a full comprehension.