Garcia Girls

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents: Part 2 Review

In the second portion of the Garcia Girls we are able to become more in tune with the characters that the first part is finally starting to make some sense. In the first part of Garcia Girls the sisters are introduced to us as adults who are settled and set in their own lives. In the first portion of the book we are able to see some of the the effects that their experiences during their younger years has effected them but we are not sure of what those experiences where.
In the second part of the book we are able to see the Garcia sisters as a lively group of young women who are caught between cultures. They have become Americanized in every sense of the word and seem to be very distant for the tradition, customs, and values of the Dominican Republic.
The sisters view the actions of their family in the Dominican Republic as ancient and counter-progressive. A good example of this is the way that they see men treat women in Dominican Republic in contrast to the way that they feel women should be treated. They feel that women should be free and independent beings who do not have to answer to a man; whereas, in the Dominican Republic men were obligated to be dominant over their women in order to show that they were powerful. The Garcia sisters are forced to juggle the pressures of their Dominican family and also assimilate into American culture and that has caused a lot of different accounts of conflict withing their family.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents: Part 1 Review

The Part 1 of Garcia Girls has been vividly descriptive, eventful; and overall, really confusing. one key thing that I have been able to get out of the first portion of this book is their family dynamic. In Part 1 the reader receives a strong sense of tradition and family values. Although the traditional Dominican parents of the Garcia girls try to instill these same values in their very Americanized daughters it seems not to be working.
In families where the children are first or second generation there is often conflict between the parents and their children. When an individual is the child of a person who is originally from another country they usually participate in practices from both cultures: new and old. In the case of the Garcia girls they are moving from the Dominican republic to the United States of America. Latino heritage is deeply based on culture and when Latinos go to America they are often accused for becoming Americanized or losing their culture. I think that in many cases people who immigrate to America are ridiculed for not staying true to their heritage which I think is completely incorrect. I feel that you can have many cultures and feel as deeply connected to one as you do the other. I also think that if you do move to America you should still try as hard as you can to participate in your culture as much as possible. I think that parents of children who are first-generation Americans also need to understand that their children are going to wish to participate in American culture because they wish to adapt and fit in with their peers.