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Antojos By Julia Alvarez Summary

637 Words3 Pages

In Julia Alvarez’s Antojos, is about a young Dominican American women named Yolanda who is visiting her homeland and family in search of her antojos or cravings which leads her to not only cultural confrontation between American and Dominican ways but being able to reconnect with her native identity.
Yolanda was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in America. She travels back to her homeland for the first time in seven years with a possibility of staying permanently and “…live here on her own terms” (Alvarez 1304). Although her extended family welcomes her, her aunts and cousins openly criticizes her appearance and American ways, as she silently critiques theirs. Yolanda has difficultly speaking Spanish, stumbling over her words and …show more content…

Yolanda travels to her homeland in order to find her cultural and personal identity. Leaving her native country to America at a young age she “…was losing her Spanish…”(Alvarez 1300) and culture that forms her family background and national heritage. For this reason, she approaches situations differently than the rest of her extended family, and there is a gap between their cultural perspectives and her own. This gap leads to a certain distance between her and the other members of the family. Yolanda “…never felt at home in the States…” (Alvarez 1304) and is experiencing the same alienation feelings with her family. This leads to her antojos of guavas as she tries to reconnect with her heritage. Yolanda’s greatest conflict is finding her place in Dominican and American culture and her identity. She could never fully assimilate in American culture and way of life because of her strong Dominican background. Over the years of fitting in, she enjoyed her independence but believed it “…didn’t have to be an exile…” (Alvarez 1304) from her native ways. In regaining her identity, she believes she must reconnect with her favorite childhood “…antojos, guavas…” (Alvarez 1300). In finding and eating the guavas, it is her way of reconnecting with her family and calling back the memories of the once Dominican

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