A Bildungsrom The Four Garcia Girls From The Dominican Republic

“Sometimes you have to do something wrong for a higher good” (43), these words are spoken by Minerva in the book In the Time of the Butterflies. All of the characters in In the Time of the Butterflies were entrapped by the dictatorial rule of Rael Trujillo but even though one may be scared to, they sacrifice themselves for their family. In the Time of the Butterflies is well known as a fictional novel that takes place during the real historical period of the Trujillo Era in the Dominican Republic. These qualities have helped reader learned more about the Dominican Republic during that time along with the brave action of the Mirabal sisters. Julia Alvarez was born on March 27, 1950 in New York.

Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies tells the story of three sisters’ daring stand against an oppressive leader. Set in the Dominican Republic during the 1990s, In the Time of the Butterflies follows the interpersonal relationships and revolutionary affairs of the Mirabal sisters: Patria, Dede, Maria Teresa, and Minerva. A masterfully crafted work of historical fiction, the novel interweaves the real life and times of the Mirabal sisters with fiction and emotion.

The year 1960, Dede Mirabal life was changed forever, she lost three of her sisters’ in a car accident. Rafael Trujillo and the dictating government of the Dominican Republic was responsible for the sisters’ deaths. Trujillo put the sisters’ through an abundance of hardships while in power; he raped, tortured and drugged Minerva, the third sister. Trujillo may not have tortured all of the sisters’, but his impact was felt by all of them throughout the book. Minerva was against the government, hence the reason Trujillo committed all of those crimes, and lead many political movements against the government.

Imagine a man who is the intimidating dictator of the country, and has intentions to hurt and kill anyone who stands in his way. Now imagine leading a revolution against this dictator, becoming one of his obstacles. This was how Minerva, Patria, Dede, and Maria Teresa Mirabal lived their lives. These girls lived in the Dominican Republic during the time when Rafael Trujillo was the dictator. They led a revolution against him, which ultimately sabotaged their lives.

Book Summary Under the Mesquite is a story about a fourteen year old girl named Lupita from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. Lupita is the oldest child of eight and discovers that her mother has been diagnosed with cancer. Lupita is faced with leaving Mexico and coming to the United states to move to Eagle Pass, Texas. Lupita must face cultural adjustments and acclimate to a new home. Lupita has more responsibilities than a typical fourteen year old teenager of dealing with her mother’s illness, school, being a caregiver to her younger siblings, and conflict with friends and family.

Reading through the intrepid journeys of this novel, we come to learn about each of the four Mirabal sisters, along with her attitude and actions towards her merciless leader. In Julia Alvarez’s In The Time of the Butterflies, readers are introduced to four sisters living under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, the head of the Dominican Republic. All sisters harbor an intense hatred for the state, but among them, two sisters in particular bear stronger differences than the others—Minerva and Dedé. Minerva is an adamant character who delves deeper into the secrets of Trujillo and the coming revolution, whereas Dedé’s character shies away and lingers in the back.

The Dumas were given so much kindness and were accepted so quickly in those two short years that they were in America. They were highly thought of in their community that they didn’t want to go back to their homeland of Iran after their two-year were up. They didn’t know when they were going to come back, the girl even said so herself, “I didn’t know then that indeed be returning to America about two years later” (Dumas, 16).All that the girl knew was that everyone was upset that she was leaving.

Alvarez and her family have a lot of trauma considering there lives in the dominican republic and living under the dictator,through it all alvarez's parents raised a daughter who would share their story in a fashionable matter that told the story how it was.

Cofer begins her essay by reliving an interaction she had with an Irishman on a trip to London, where the man re-enacted “María” from West Side Story. It was Cofer’s Hispanic appearance which led to the incident and the extra attention caused her to feel like an “island”. She felt out of place and insists that the same situation would not have likely occurred

The main protagonist Esperanza, matures from a childish girl to a young confident woman through many critical and life changing events in the story. Ultimately, the author, Sandra Cisneros implements the symbols of confidence, the house on mango street and the metaphor of shoes to show how Esperanza develops into a more mature state. Sandra Cisneros

Lola takes advantage of her deteriorating mother whose illness represents the declining hold of the norms over Lola. Since her mom “will have trouble lifting her arms over her head for the rest of her life,” Lola is no longer afraid of the “hitting” and grabbing “by the throat” (415,419). As a child of a “Old World Dominican Mother” Lola must be surrounded by traditional values and beliefs that she does not want to claim, so “as soon as she became sick” Lola says, “I saw my chance and I’m not going to pretend or apologize; I saw my chance and I eventually took it” (416). When taking the opportunity to distinguish herself from the typical “Dominican daughter” or ‘Dominican slave,” she takes a cultural norm like long hair and decides to impulsively change it (416). Lola enjoyed the “feeling in [her] blood, the rattle” that she got when she told Karen to “cut my hair” (418).

For as long as people can remember, the stereotype that men have “more power” than women in a relationship has been a relevant argument. In the novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents the Author, Julia Alvarez, writes about four girls and part of that revolves around their relationships with men. In all of their relationships with men, he has the power in the relationship which means he makes the decisions for them. When they lived in the United States the girls and their mother had more say in the society. When they lived in the Dominican Republic men just saw them as submissive housewives who bear their children.

There always comes a moment in a person 's life when one has to grow up, which is sometimes known as coming of age. The period is characterized by a young person who undergoes transition into an adult stage, thus learning to act and live like an adult. While the process of development occurs naturally as an individual advance of his age, it can also be influenced by occurrences, which force the person to grow faster. In most instances, the societal forces force a child to mature faster since one is acquainted with the responsibilities of an adult. For instance, during the civil war era, young people were forced into military so that they can join the war, this taking up the role of adults in the society.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is mainly about four girls named Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia and how they are forced to move to the United States of America. The novel expresses how they struggle adapt and the challenges they face during this transition. The challenges they face are quite similar to the discriminations that black people experienced during those times. The family originally lived in the Dominican Republic in a big house with maids.

In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, the character of Mamacita has the strongest ties to her home she left, and perhaps the strongest desire to escape from Mango Street and return home. Mamacita is a woman with a husband and child, who moved to Chicago from a latin american country. She is somewhat overweight, doesn’t know much English, and stays mostly in her apartment for unknown reasons, singing songs from her native country and crying. Her husband fights with Mamacita, often over her desire to return, and her child is becoming assimilated into American society against her will. Because Mamacita has such strong ties to her heritage and origin, she clings to it tightly, resisting assimilation in any way possible, and highlights