book post

  I haveto say 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.sarcastically, but that is a very dramatic ending for a book that was branded "confusing". The ending does not essentially explain anything.
In the vignette, An American Surprise, Carla, Sandi, and Yolanda are each given a mechanical bank. Initially, they are all excited about their new toy and goes around showing it off to classmates and peers. Eventually the banks become neglected until one day a maid asks to purchase the Virgin Mary bank from Carla. Carla then decides to give it as a present to Gladys, the maid. Mami finds out about the incident and reprimands both Carla and Gladys, where Gladys eventually leaves. In the end, the Virgin Mary figure is caught halfway up and halfway down. Since Virgin Mary is a symbol of innocence, being caught in between can symbolize how the girls will be caught in between 'sin' and 'innocence' later on in their lives. Innocence represents their experience in the Dominican Republic while sin represents the exposure of American culture to the girls. Therefore, this can also be interpreted as a struggle being caught in between two cultures.
ike did she really change when went to America or was she already like that? Lots of people in class have there own opinions on what they think about the book. The kitten part in the story gave me a real shock too. I knew exactly that the Kitten could represent Yolanda and her sisters. Like saying that The kitten are sent away from there mothers like Yolanda and her sisters were sent away from there mothers to go to America. There lives changed because comparing the Dominican Republic is really different from America. They probably have an unexpected feeling because she was sent to America so unexpectedly. She was probably shocked and did not know what to feel. I am Guessing that since the tittle is "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" Maybe they did not really loose there accents, They actually mean they lost there innocence. I do not think that she lost her innocence from just experiencing the world more.