Comparison between Frost's two great poems.
Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco, March 26. He was one of America's foremost 20th-century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Although his verse forms are traditional, he was a pioneer in the interplay of rhythm and meter and in the poetic use of the vocabulary and inflections of everyday speech. His poetry is thus both traditional and experimental.
Introduction:
The Road Not Taken talks about weighing of choices in life while Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening is about reflecting on the past choices made in life and how it affects the person as he readies himself for the inevitable end. The former is about youth and experiencing life, the latter is about old age or more probably an old spirit wearied by life.
The Road Not Taken. This free verse style poem is the most popular piece penned by Robert Frost. The Road not Taken talks about a person who comes across an intersection or a fork in the road and he has to choose which way to follow. The road, of course, is a metaphor on the choice/s we make in life.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. The poem does not really contain any direct metaphors or similes in its lines. Its strength unlike “The Road Not Taken” rests on its format and vivid depiction of the woods.
Both poems though make heavy use of symbolism. Both are similar in the fact that they appear to be simple yet close examination reveals hidden meaning. Stopping by the Woods on a Snowing Evening brings the narrator to the woods which follows that he is far from the city which is the symbol of life. Another symbolism is the phrase “Between the woods and the frozen lake”. The woods now become a symbol of life while the frozen lake signifies death. The final example of symbolism is death being compared to sleep. Symbolism in "The Road not Taken" is the represented by the fork in the road.
In “The Road Not Taken”, as the narrator pondered on his choices, he feels strongly that whatever "road" he takes will be for good. So he must weigh his decision well in order to come up with the best choice and not end up regretting it. He weighed his choices well and in the end, chose to follow the road less traveled or the road not taken often by travelers. By doing so, the narrator sort of declared his rebellion to the popular opinion as represented the by the other road. He decided not to conform to society and take up a less popular choice. This could refer to Frost's decision to become a writer, which as we all know, is not exactly a lucrative trade. His decision to take up writing as his profession might have been unpopular at first.
Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening unlike The Road Not Taken does not inspire one to rebel or to take on a active role. At first glance, Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening might denote just that - stopping in the woods to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Reading between the lines though would reveal that the stop in the poem could be referring to death. Therefore it is more passive. It echoes submission and fatalism a direct contrast to the need for action portrayed in The Road Not Taken.
The Road Not Taken signifies a difficult choice in a person's life that could offer him an easy or hard way out. There are no assurances on what lies ahead; if there will be success or sorrows. This offers a closer glimpse to the author's life. Choosing the harder path is admittance from Frost that he found the fulfillment he sought. Frost shows the typical human reaction when confronted with several choices to take both paths at first (ln13: “Oh I marked the first for another day”), but later confesses he “doubted if [he] should ever come back” (ln15). Thus, the poem's significance lies in Frost coming up with a decision by choosing a road and move on with is life. The act of choosing the road may represent his uniqueness and the fact that he is always moving forward and never stopping.
Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening, on the other hand, does not delve on moving forward but on taking a stop, a cessation of action. In this poem the narrator is actually wishing for death. The topic of death is apparent in a number of Frost's poems. This is probably the reason the last line “And miles to go before I sleep,” is said twice. It makes one thinks the narrator is sighing.
The similarity of The Road not Taken and Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening is more evident when in the latter the narrator admits that even if he longs for rest but he cannot. The horse and cart are preventing him to do so. The horse serves as a reminder for him to get back to reality “to ask if there is some mistake”. The cart represents his duties which he must fulfill which are signified by “harness bells”.
In Stopping by the Words there is a reluctance to continue with the daily routine but the narrator realizes that he has no choice or control over it. The Road Not Taken provides option to the narrator. But both narrators are aware of the fact that life goes on. That life doesn't end when he stops by the woods on a snowy evening or with his death wish. That life still continues after he makes his choice on which way to go as he ponders on the road not often taken.
Conclusion:
Frost's works The Road Not Taken and Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening provide us contrasting and sometimes similar glimpses of life. The Road not Taken is about taking control and living life. Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening entails the desire for rest perhaps due to the narrator's feelings of weariness in facing life's struggles. But things do not end there, just as we make choices in The Road not Taken, the struggles still continue even after we experience Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening, whether we like it or not.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Alice Walker: Everyday Use
Everyday Use by Alice Walker is a story of a mother and her two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Despite being sisters, Maggie and Dee's personalities are as opposite as night and day. Dee is the popular one who aspires for higher goals. Maggie, on the other hand, contents herself with staying at the shadow of sister and to learn how to quilt.
Towards the end of the story, the mother must make a choice as to whom to give the quilt which they hold for generations. When Maggie spoke and suggested that the quilt be given to her older sister Dee, she began to see Maggie in a different light. She also learned to appreciate Maggie's simplicity and goodness as compared to Dee's sophistication and ambitions.
Barbara Christian noted that in Walker's work one can gleaned "contrariness," a "willingness at all turns to challenge the fashionable belief of the day." The much-covered quilt pertains to a trope. In this instance, the trope is a metaphor to reality as experienced by the author during her times. Sam Whitsitt said that “the tightness of the stitching depends on the tightness of the identity of any group which claims the quilt as its sign” (1). Kelley believes that "the most resonant quality of [real] quiltmaking is the promise of creating unity amongst disparate elements". Recently, Showalter observes that the quilt has "transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culhire" and become the "central metaphor of American cultural identity" (215).
During Alice Walker's time "the writing of fiction," as Mary Helen Washington observes, may refer to having "done under the shadow of men" (103). Therefore, the quilt could mean it takes the women from the domination of men and give them a voice, a place of their own.
As Sam Whitsitt points out “Moving out of the shadow of men, however, can lead to entanglements in the threads of women”. In a related article "The Needle or the Pen: The Literary Rediscovery of Women's Textile Work," Elaine Hedges narrates how women writers before the mid-1900s protect themselves and calm their nerves on the largely male-dominated literary establishment by used metaphor by saying writing was actually mere sewing-the pen refers to only a needle.
Both Elaine Hedges and Elaine Showalter recognize the importance of quilting, but have hesitations as to how it is used. Hedges notes "whether the needle doesn't at times move too magically to dispel conflict, to solve complex issues of gender and male power" (359), and Elaine Showalter points out that, "while quilting does have crucial meaning for American women's texts, it can't be taken as a transhistorical and essential form of female expression, but rather as a gendered practice that change[s] from one generation to the next..." (197-98).
Bakers said that "the sorority of quiltmakers, fragment weavers, holy patchers, possesses a sacred wisdom that it hands down from generation to generation of those who refuse the center for the ludic and unconfined spaces of the margins" (156). This analysis pertains to Dee, the prodigal daughter in the story. She is the character who plays on the margins. Dee, in the story, is being excluded according to Nancy Tuten calls "the establishment of a sisterhood between mother and daughter" (125), which pertains to the sisterhood between Mama and her daughter Maggie, not to the other daughter/sister, Dee.
In the story, Patricia Kane believes Dee is the prodigal daughter who does not receive the welcome she anticipates as opposed to the biblical story "prodigal son". The explanation for this is simple, Nancy Tuten believes that Mama has a "distaste for Dee's egotism" (126), that Maggie feels "disgust with her sister," and that, "in the end, Dee's oppressive voice is mute, for Mama has narrated her out of the story altogether."
The Bakers are more upfront. To them, Dee is evil, a "serpent" in Mama's "calm pasture" (159); inauthentic ("Dee is not an example of the indigenous rapping and styling out of Afro-America" [160]); and a traitor ("Individualism and a flouting of convention in order to achieve "aesthetic" success constitute acts of treachery in "Everyday Use"" [163]).
Mary Helen Washington believes that "Walker is most closely aligned in the story with the "bad daughter," Dee... the one who goes out in the world and returns with African clothes and an African name”. Which means, Walker most likely identifies herself with Dee more than any other character in the story "Everyday Use". Walker refers to Dee as an "autonomous person," and she points out the similarities like Dee, has an "African name ... and I love it and use it when I want to, and I love my Kenyan gowns and my Ugandan gowns--the whole bit--it's part of me" (Washington 102). Moreover, the name Dee is given, "Wangero," is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa (Christian 13).
Susan Willis in noting that, "when the black writer takes the materials of folk culture and subjects them to fiction[,]... she is engaged in "an enterprise fraught with contradiction"" (102). Dee being the one fraught with contradiction is in danger of being branded as a traitor or excluded and shunned. But in a story as Diana Fuss pointed out in her book Essentially Speaking, it is definitely for the good to put some conflict rather than attempt to completely eliminate it. That is why in the end; Dee is relegated to the background and branded as a traitor.
Barbara Christian said that "Toomer's women are silent, their sense of themselves and their condition interpreted by a male narrator" (9).
The iron though as what Washington points out, is that the story of "Everyday Use," which is supposed to give voice to people in and outside of the story, make their stories heard, is distributed in a market that does not include them. Whitsitt said, “They never hear their voices being heard”.
Mama's "epiphanic moment of recognition" (Baker and Pierce-Baker 161) is a re-cognition that she ought to live in the moment. That she does not see reality as it presents. Bakers believe that it should be taken in the context of logic or politics of discovering identity. Barbara Christian believes in Walker's "contrariness". This is because she creates characters who act in spite of themselves or who act out of character. This creates "differences within identities" (Fuss 103).
Walker changes her sentence to past tense when she writes about Mama's epiphanic moment. "Something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet," which leads to "I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me..." (34). In this instance, as Whitsitt said “But the past tense is not opposed to the present” (3).
The story ends with this newly-discovered intimacy between a mother and daughter, found presently as they never have done before. The fact is it is written in the past tense and the story ends that way. This, in turn, leads one to wonder about how present the present tense is at the beginning of the story. This somehow creates a contradiction which is unique to Walker's writings.
As Elaine Showalter says in her article "Common Threads," the quilt itself is no longer specifically tied to woman's culture as years go by: "The patchwork quilt came to replace the melting-pot as the central metaphor of American cultural identity. In a very unusual pattern, it transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culture and has been remade as a universal sign of American identity" (215).
Towards the end of the story, the mother must make a choice as to whom to give the quilt which they hold for generations. When Maggie spoke and suggested that the quilt be given to her older sister Dee, she began to see Maggie in a different light. She also learned to appreciate Maggie's simplicity and goodness as compared to Dee's sophistication and ambitions.
Barbara Christian noted that in Walker's work one can gleaned "contrariness," a "willingness at all turns to challenge the fashionable belief of the day." The much-covered quilt pertains to a trope. In this instance, the trope is a metaphor to reality as experienced by the author during her times. Sam Whitsitt said that “the tightness of the stitching depends on the tightness of the identity of any group which claims the quilt as its sign” (1). Kelley believes that "the most resonant quality of [real] quiltmaking is the promise of creating unity amongst disparate elements". Recently, Showalter observes that the quilt has "transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culhire" and become the "central metaphor of American cultural identity" (215).
During Alice Walker's time "the writing of fiction," as Mary Helen Washington observes, may refer to having "done under the shadow of men" (103). Therefore, the quilt could mean it takes the women from the domination of men and give them a voice, a place of their own.
As Sam Whitsitt points out “Moving out of the shadow of men, however, can lead to entanglements in the threads of women”. In a related article "The Needle or the Pen: The Literary Rediscovery of Women's Textile Work," Elaine Hedges narrates how women writers before the mid-1900s protect themselves and calm their nerves on the largely male-dominated literary establishment by used metaphor by saying writing was actually mere sewing-the pen refers to only a needle.
Both Elaine Hedges and Elaine Showalter recognize the importance of quilting, but have hesitations as to how it is used. Hedges notes "whether the needle doesn't at times move too magically to dispel conflict, to solve complex issues of gender and male power" (359), and Elaine Showalter points out that, "while quilting does have crucial meaning for American women's texts, it can't be taken as a transhistorical and essential form of female expression, but rather as a gendered practice that change[s] from one generation to the next..." (197-98).
Bakers said that "the sorority of quiltmakers, fragment weavers, holy patchers, possesses a sacred wisdom that it hands down from generation to generation of those who refuse the center for the ludic and unconfined spaces of the margins" (156). This analysis pertains to Dee, the prodigal daughter in the story. She is the character who plays on the margins. Dee, in the story, is being excluded according to Nancy Tuten calls "the establishment of a sisterhood between mother and daughter" (125), which pertains to the sisterhood between Mama and her daughter Maggie, not to the other daughter/sister, Dee.
In the story, Patricia Kane believes Dee is the prodigal daughter who does not receive the welcome she anticipates as opposed to the biblical story "prodigal son". The explanation for this is simple, Nancy Tuten believes that Mama has a "distaste for Dee's egotism" (126), that Maggie feels "disgust with her sister," and that, "in the end, Dee's oppressive voice is mute, for Mama has narrated her out of the story altogether."
The Bakers are more upfront. To them, Dee is evil, a "serpent" in Mama's "calm pasture" (159); inauthentic ("Dee is not an example of the indigenous rapping and styling out of Afro-America" [160]); and a traitor ("Individualism and a flouting of convention in order to achieve "aesthetic" success constitute acts of treachery in "Everyday Use"" [163]).
Mary Helen Washington believes that "Walker is most closely aligned in the story with the "bad daughter," Dee... the one who goes out in the world and returns with African clothes and an African name”. Which means, Walker most likely identifies herself with Dee more than any other character in the story "Everyday Use". Walker refers to Dee as an "autonomous person," and she points out the similarities like Dee, has an "African name ... and I love it and use it when I want to, and I love my Kenyan gowns and my Ugandan gowns--the whole bit--it's part of me" (Washington 102). Moreover, the name Dee is given, "Wangero," is the same name Walker herself was given when she went to Africa (Christian 13).
Susan Willis in noting that, "when the black writer takes the materials of folk culture and subjects them to fiction[,]... she is engaged in "an enterprise fraught with contradiction"" (102). Dee being the one fraught with contradiction is in danger of being branded as a traitor or excluded and shunned. But in a story as Diana Fuss pointed out in her book Essentially Speaking, it is definitely for the good to put some conflict rather than attempt to completely eliminate it. That is why in the end; Dee is relegated to the background and branded as a traitor.
Barbara Christian said that "Toomer's women are silent, their sense of themselves and their condition interpreted by a male narrator" (9).
The iron though as what Washington points out, is that the story of "Everyday Use," which is supposed to give voice to people in and outside of the story, make their stories heard, is distributed in a market that does not include them. Whitsitt said, “They never hear their voices being heard”.
Mama's "epiphanic moment of recognition" (Baker and Pierce-Baker 161) is a re-cognition that she ought to live in the moment. That she does not see reality as it presents. Bakers believe that it should be taken in the context of logic or politics of discovering identity. Barbara Christian believes in Walker's "contrariness". This is because she creates characters who act in spite of themselves or who act out of character. This creates "differences within identities" (Fuss 103).
Walker changes her sentence to past tense when she writes about Mama's epiphanic moment. "Something hit me in the top of my head and ran down to the soles of my feet," which leads to "I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me..." (34). In this instance, as Whitsitt said “But the past tense is not opposed to the present” (3).
The story ends with this newly-discovered intimacy between a mother and daughter, found presently as they never have done before. The fact is it is written in the past tense and the story ends that way. This, in turn, leads one to wonder about how present the present tense is at the beginning of the story. This somehow creates a contradiction which is unique to Walker's writings.
As Elaine Showalter says in her article "Common Threads," the quilt itself is no longer specifically tied to woman's culture as years go by: "The patchwork quilt came to replace the melting-pot as the central metaphor of American cultural identity. In a very unusual pattern, it transcended the stigma of its sources in women's culture and has been remade as a universal sign of American identity" (215).
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Julia Alvarez and the Immigrant Experience
The immigration experience of Julia Alvarez in her book How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents.
Julia Alvarez is a perfect example of an immigrant experience in the land of milk and honey, United States. Her life is a real illustration of the challenges of assimilation, racism and identity that all immigrants, anywhere in the world, could relate to.
“Although I was raised in the Dominican Republic by Dominican parents in an extended Dominica family, mine was an American childhood.” Alvarez quipped while she was interviews in American Scholar. Her fondness for Dominican Republic still shows though.
The stories she relate in her autobiography and in her various works of fiction offer glimpses of immigrant life which anyone who had to immigrate and immerse to a different culture with new sets of social demands and, on top of that, acquires a bicultural/biracial identity could easily identify with. These are but a few of the adjustments living in America for immigrants had to cope with.
Culture shock is one aspect of immigrants’ lives that need some closer inspection. The acclimatization to a new culture, new language and new way of life for some immigrants could be a nerve-wracking even traumatic experience for some. The emotional rollercoaster characterized by uncertainties, fears and insecurities that plague the immigrant during the initial phase of immigration could be an overwhelming experience.
The Alvarez family’s experience of fleeing Dominican Republic to seek political asylum in the United States is not an isolated case. There are a number of people who were forced to flee their country due to social and political unrest and settled in America indefinitely.
Perhaps the stigma of being driven out of the country by force must have compounded the misery and the pain the Alvarez’s felt in settling in the new country they were in. Fortunately, the majority of those who immigrate to America were not due to political reasons but as part of their personal decision to attain a better and more prosperous life for themselves and their families.
Alvarez starts her life story by recalling that her father belonged to a wealthy family who supported the losing political party during the revolution in Dominican Republic. Due to that, they felt the brunt of the winning party’s anger. Since her mother’s parents supported the winning political group they transferred to mother’s family compound. Alvarez experienced growing up with extended families consisting of cousins, aunts, uncle, grandparents and maids. Alvarez’s father is a doctor who became poor due to the revolution.
Their way of life in Dominican Republic was highly influenced by the American culture. They dressed in American clothing, ate American food and studied in American schools. All the families in the compound where Alvarez grew up were obsessed with America. To them, it was a picture of idealism and perfection.
Things took a dramatic turn in young Julia’s life when her father decided to join the resistance movement. Police began to spy on them. Just as the police was about to arrest him, an American agent passed the information to the doctor a few hours prior to the planned arrest. To evade arrest, the family immediately got on board an airplane out of the country and headed to America.
When the plane landed on American soil, Julia thought she was finally home at last. America had been the ideal country she wanted for the longest time. Now her dreams were about to become real. All her American training back in Dominican Republic would finally have its deserving ending – to call America home.
But not so. Life was not a bed of roses for young Julia as she found herself feeling homesick most of the time. She longed to be with her cousins and relatives in Dominican Republic. She also wanted to go back to her way of life, complete with the luxuries accorded to their family. Her experiences with the new country America were not exactly a nightmare but they were not as ideal as her dreams either.
She also felt alienated and discriminated due to her race. She missed her home and relatives. They lived in a small apartment. She found solace in reading books. The books diverted her from the painful reality she felt then. She later pursued degrees in literature and writing and gained respectable degree of success.
Julia Alvarez’s book critically acclaimed book “How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents” was published in 1991. This fictional book as the author admits is derived from her immigration experiences.
The book is about four sisters who came to America and the hardships and conflicts they faced in the middle of two cultures – their country’s and America’s. Fifteen stories comprise the novel and depict various interesting characters as well as offer deep insights. Hispanic women specifically find the book a true depiction of their lives.
The book features four girls: Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia. Carla is the oldest of the four girls. She is responsible one and acts as the analysts of the family. She later became a child psychologist so that she can fathom her own loss of identity as a child. Carla is seen as the strongest and more independent among the four and she does not demand much attention just like her younger sisters.
Sandra is the second oldest. She is the beauty of the family due to her lighter skin but has an eating disorder. She becomes obsessed with her weight in a society that equates thinness with beauty. The third daughter is Yolanda. Her story dominates the book. She’s a writer, school teacher and poet. Sofia is the youngest. She is seen as the wild one. She fell in love with Auto while studying abroad. They had a son. And Sofia had to quit schooling
The stories do not only delve on their different personalities but also show how young immigrants journey through life as they make necessary adjustments to adapt to the new surroundings and culture. The girls lived in the United States but are brought up under the strict almost overbearing rule their conservative of Dominican Republic parents. They were expected to abide by Old world rules reminiscent of their previous country and set by their parents. The girls rebelled in the process.
The book mostly revolves around the problems encountered by the four daughters when they first set foot in the United States. Later, these same problems beset them as they returned to Dominican Republic on summer vacations as visitors. The girls have an extremely difficult time adjusting particularly in making friends: “Here they were trying to fit in America among Americans; they needed help figuring out who they were, why the Irish kids whose grandparents had been micks were calling the spics.” (p.138)
Julia Alvarez’s books and her very own life story reflect the triumphs and travails of immigrants in the United States. The conflict of the immigrants revolves primarily on their need and struggles to assimilate to the American culture at the same time retaining their inherent identity. Once the inner conflict is resolved, acceptance and acclimatization begin.
Julia Alvarez and the Immigrant Experience
The immigration experience of Julia Alvarez in her book How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents.
Julia Alvarez is a perfect example of an immigrant experience in the land of milk and honey, United States. Her life is a real illustration of the challenges of assimilation, racism and identity that all immigrants, anywhere in the world, could relate to.
“Although I was raised in the Dominican Republic by Dominican parents in an extended Dominica family, mine was an American childhood.” Alvarez quipped while she was interviews in American Scholar. Her fondness for Dominican Republic still shows though.
The stories she relate in her autobiography and in her various works of fiction offer glimpses of immigrant life which anyone who had to immigrate and immerse to a different culture with new sets of social demands and, on top of that, acquires a bicultural/biracial identity could easily identify with. These are but a few of the adjustments living in America for immigrants had to cope with.
Culture shock is one aspect of immigrants’ lives that need some closer inspection. The acclimatization to a new culture, new language and new way of life for some immigrants could be a nerve-wracking even traumatic experience for some. The emotional rollercoaster characterized by uncertainties, fears and insecurities that plague the immigrant during the initial phase of immigration could be an overwhelming experience.
The Alvarez family’s experience of fleeing Dominican Republic to seek political asylum in the United States is not an isolated case. There are a number of people who were forced to flee their country due to social and political unrest and settled in America indefinitely.
Perhaps the stigma of being driven out of the country by force must have compounded the misery and the pain the Alvarez’s felt in settling in the new country they were in. Fortunately, the majority of those who immigrate to America were not due to political reasons but as part of their personal decision to attain a better and more prosperous life for themselves and their families.
Alvarez starts her life story by recalling that her father belonged to a wealthy family who supported the losing political party during the revolution in Dominican Republic. Due to that, they felt the brunt of the winning party’s anger. Since her mother’s parents supported the winning political group they transferred to mother’s family compound. Alvarez experienced growing up with extended families consisting of cousins, aunts, uncle, grandparents and maids. Alvarez’s father is a doctor who became poor due to the revolution.
Their way of life in Dominican Republic was highly influenced by the American culture. They dressed in American clothing, ate American food and studied in American schools. All the families in the compound where Alvarez grew up were obsessed with America. To them, it was a picture of idealism and perfection.
Things took a dramatic turn in young Julia’s life when her father decided to join the resistance movement. Police began to spy on them. Just as the police was about to arrest him, an American agent passed the information to the doctor a few hours prior to the planned arrest. To evade arrest, the family immediately got on board an airplane out of the country and headed to America.
When the plane landed on American soil, Julia thought she was finally home at last. America had been the ideal country she wanted for the longest time. Now her dreams were about to become real. All her American training back in Dominican Republic would finally have its deserving ending – to call America home.
But not so. Life was not a bed of roses for young Julia as she found herself feeling homesick most of the time. She longed to be with her cousins and relatives in Dominican Republic. She also wanted to go back to her way of life, complete with the luxuries accorded to their family. Her experiences with the new country America were not exactly a nightmare but they were not as ideal as her dreams either.
She also felt alienated and discriminated due to her race. She missed her home and relatives. They lived in a small apartment. She found solace in reading books. The books diverted her from the painful reality she felt then. She later pursued degrees in literature and writing and gained respectable degree of success.
Julia Alvarez’s book critically acclaimed book “How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents” was published in 1991. This fictional book as the author admits is derived from her immigration experiences.
The book is about four sisters who came to America and the hardships and conflicts they faced in the middle of two cultures – their country’s and America’s. Fifteen stories comprise the novel and depict various interesting characters as well as offer deep insights. Hispanic women specifically find the book a true depiction of their lives.
The book features four girls: Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia. Carla is the oldest of the four girls. She is responsible one and acts as the analysts of the family. She later became a child psychologist so that she can fathom her own loss of identity as a child. Carla is seen as the strongest and more independent among the four and she does not demand much attention just like her younger sisters.
Sandra is the second oldest. She is the beauty of the family due to her lighter skin but has an eating disorder. She becomes obsessed with her weight in a society that equates thinness with beauty. The third daughter is Yolanda. Her story dominates the book. She’s a writer, school teacher and poet. Sofia is the youngest. She is seen as the wild one. She fell in love with Auto while studying abroad. They had a son. And Sofia had to quit schooling
The stories do not only delve on their different personalities but also show how young immigrants journey through life as they make necessary adjustments to adapt to the new surroundings and culture. The girls lived in the United States but are brought up under the strict almost overbearing rule their conservative of Dominican Republic parents. They were expected to abide by Old world rules reminiscent of their previous country and set by their parents. The girls rebelled in the process.
The book mostly revolves around the problems encountered by the four daughters when they first set foot in the United States. Later, these same problems beset them as they returned to Dominican Republic on summer vacations as visitors. The girls have an extremely difficult time adjusting particularly in making friends: “Here they were trying to fit in America among Americans; they needed help figuring out who they were, why the Irish kids whose grandparents had been micks were calling the spics.” (p.138)
Julia Alvarez’s books and her very own life story reflect the triumphs and travails of immigrants in the United States. The conflict of the immigrants revolves primarily on their need and struggles to assimilate to the American culture at the same time retaining their inherent identity. Once the inner conflict is resolved, acceptance and acclimatization begin.
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