How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Fifi is the youngest of the four Garcia girls. Because she is the youngest, she does not remember as much about life in the Dominican Republic as her sisters do. All the girls are said to have become “wild” while in America, and Fifi is no exception. Fifi shows loyalty and integrity when she refuses to allow her sisters to take the blame for the marijuana their mother finds behind her bookcase, and she faces the consequences herself. In this way, she also shows her independence, breaking free from the collective “Garcia girls.”

Despite her independence and free spirit, Fifi embraces the stifling culture Alvarez depicts in the Dominican Republic. When she spends time alone on the Island, she becomes what they term a “Spanish-American Princess” (118). She starts to dress like the people there and allows herself to be controlled and dominated by Manuel, who criticizes her provocative clothing and pressures her into unprotected sex. Her sisters recognize that she has been enculturated into the way of life in the Dominican Republic, and they plot to get her out of the country against her will. Her conversion to the Dominican way of life is Alvarez’s way of showing how powerful that culture is.

Carla Garcia is the oldest Garcia daughter. Because she is the oldest, her transition to life in the United States is different from that of her sisters. She has more memories of their old life, and she is influenced by Dominican culture longer than the other girls. Because Carla is entering puberty around the time the family immigrates to the United States, her most difficult task in assimilation is integrating into a new culture in a body that also feels new and foreign. Her “homeless” feeling, then, refers to both a lack of a physical home as well as a lack of being at home in her body. As a teenager, Carla’s changing body puts her at risk in ways that her sisters do not experience: She is bullied and sexually assaulted at school, and a grown man in a car exposes himself to her. She lacks the language to explain what happened to a police officer, leaving her stuck in her experience.

Carla becomes a psychoanalyst and eventually marries an analyst, as well. As an adult, she often uses therapeutic language when speaking to her family. In the novel, she alludes to processing the events and family dynamics of her childhood with her husband, suggesting that these formative experiences impact her into adulthood.

Sandra Garcia is the second-oldest Garcia daughter. As a child, one of Sandi’s most prominent characteristics is her artistic ability. To her detriment, what sets her apart frightens others. During Sandi’s childhood, a child becomes sick soon after Sandi draws them but becomes well after the drawing is destroyed. Later, when her mother insists that she clean her drawings off the walls, rats overrun the home. The fear of Sandi’s talent symbolizes the fear of female excellence and individuation.

Sandi’s art is shown to be, at least in some ways, out of her control. When she draws a cat during art class, it is not presented as a cognizant choice. Rather she feels compelled to get the cat out of her system. When she does, she describes a feeling of space inside her where the cat once was. This episode illustrates how strong the artistic impulse is and how it can be a powerful motivator and an imperative for those who have it. Sandi loses her artistic abilities in childhood after she sees a naked man carving nativity statues in a shed. She injures herself when she falls trying to get away after the man sees her. Through the ordeal of healing her arm, she loses her artistic impulses. The stunting of Sandi’s artistic impulse is a defining moment in her life. She later experiences an eating disorder and a mental health crisis, raising questions about the role of her long-stifled creativity in her fragile mental state as an adult.