The book that I am reading is entitled "How the Garcia Girls lost their accents", by Julia Alvarez. The plot of my book involves an evil Dominican Dictator who is overthrown by a revolutionary doctor and all of his supporters. The doctor however is unable to see through the coup de tat and is forced to flee to America before he is captured in beheaded in his home country. Once he arrives in his country we follow the development of his daughters lives and how they all assimilated into American Country, thus losing their accent. There are four girls each with their own unique story lines.
Carla: The oldest daughter and possibly the most responsible has been detailed as an analytic throughout the book. Carla although the oldest appears to be one of the weakest of all the sisters. As young girl she had trouble being accepted into her class and constantly felt embarrassed about her insufficient English vocabulary. She had trouble embracing puberty and later had these fears amplified as she was approached by a pedophile on her way walking home from school.
Sandra: Sandra is the most troubled sister of all. Her lack of identity and understanding of American virtue caused for her to have a mental breakdown earlier on in the book( but later on in the storyline). Sandra has the most drastic of mental breakdowns but each daughter does in fact express mental illness. Aside from Sandra's mental breakdown not much else is known about who she is as a person or her life experiences.
Yolanda: Yolanda, Yolanda, the tomboy of the family. Proclaimed to be the poet of the household Yolanda was launched into stardom at an earlier age. Shortly after arriving in America did Yolanda find that the words she used to express herself found much attention. At her first school her teacher, Sister Zoe adored Yolanda and tutored her in English. As she grew older however, she began having trouble embracing her sexuality and this led to the divorce of her first husband John. After the divorce and major heartbreak Yolanda too had a mental breakdown although not as severe as Sandra's.
Sofia: Sofia is the youngest and perhaps the most liberated has the most exciting storyline of all the other sister combined. Nicknamed Fifi she has always been romantically inclined and is cited as never going with a boyfriend since her early teens. Conflict ensues when her father finds a batch of live letter stowed away in one of her drawers. When Sofia is confronted by her father about the letters she lashes out in an emotional paroxysm an leaves the home vowing never to return. She runs away to Germany where she begs her love to marry her. They get married and have a son named Otto who is the pride of the family, a blonde haired, blue-eyed boy.
Word Count: 478
