Analysis Of Yolanda In The Four Garcia Girls

“Can people have harmonious multicultural identities?” This question whirls around in my mind constantly as pages are being flipped through. The four Garcia girls, who left their own nation at a young age and immigrated to the U.S, experienced a series of transformations to adapt themselves to the new environment. Yolanda, the second youngest sister, employed her language sensitivity to become a master in English words, which set as a promoter for her to be absorbed into the society and establish a brand-new self. However, pathetically, she found herself being trapped within two different cultures in the end. In Dominican Republic, the society was particularly patriarchal, where men declared supremacy. A detail in the book could be used to exemplify the effect it exerted on Yolanda. When trying to trade toys with her cousin Mundín, Yolanda obeyed his indelicate request by
Even though she was hesitant, she potentially regarded her cousin as being in a more powerful status. Also, Yolanda was used to being submitted to her father, as well as to other men in the house, constantly. Yet, Yolanda’s desire to become separated from the Dominican standards for women was revealed from a bold speech she wrote for school: “That night, at last, she started to write, recklessly, three, five pages, looking up once only to see her father passing by the hall on tiptoe” (Alvarez 142). After completing the speech, she “read over her words, and her eyes filled”, feeling like she “finally sounded like herself in English!” (Alvarez 143). This was how Yolanda established her new “self” according to American value. Instead of accepting her father’s suggestion to praise the teachers, Yolanda composed an article with inspiration from a Whitman’s poem. Yolanda was deeply touched by the content of the poem, which sharply went