I M Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter By Erika L. Sanchez

In the film “Mi Familia,” we follow the story of the Mexican-American Sánchez family who settled in East Los Angeles, California after immigrating to the United States. Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas introduce the story of this family in several contexts that are developed along generations. These generations hold significant historical periods that form the identity of each individual member of the family. We start off by exploring the immigrant experience as the family patriarch heads north to Los Angeles, later we see how national events like the great depression directly impact Maria as she gets deported, although she was a US citizen. The events that follow further oppress this family and begins separate identity formations. These

All throughout history men have suppressed and controlled women. In this novel by Julia Alvarez, she brings to light that not only in the Dominican Republic, but also in America that women are continuously subjected by man no matter age or culture. In the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez shares the lives of 4 sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia as they assimilate to American culture after leaving the Dominican Republic. In this reverse chronological order book, the four sisters take turns sharing their stories and experiences, starting with adulthood in America and ending when they are children in the Dominican Republic. In How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez uses

Julia Alvarez’s book, How the García Girls Lost their Accents, illustrates the struggle of finding an identity as an immigrant. The four girls, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia seem to be lost in their new American culture but even more lost in their home culture as adults. Finding what culture they belong to is a lifelong struggle that results in acculturation, deculturalization and culture shock.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez is a novel that I definitely enjoyed reading because it shows the reality that many families have faced when they immigrate to the United States. It is a very realistic book that catches the attention of the reader instantly. I liked that the book is given throughout different points of views, and that is not just a narrator telling us everything. I think that what the author was trying to say in the novel was how much leaving your mother nation can affect you as an individual. The author tried to give this message, by setting examples. The girls had to leave their cultures and language back in the Dominican Republic and adapt to a new life style were they faced discrimination as well.

(Grande 281) She realizes that she is no longer considered one of them by her original community. This is because of her nice clothes and healthier body that separates her from the community, which has less healthy bodies in comparison. Although the community may not consider her a true Mexican, she still feels connected in “...even though this was my home now, my umbilical cord was buried in Iguala. ”(Grande 159)

Is the American dream purely about material gain, or does it surround the intense journey of self-discovery and reinvention? Through the symbolism of Laura’s innovative spirit, Alvarez prompts us to reconsider the very idea of the American dream and its true significance. In the coming-of-age novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez explores the journey of Laura Garca, an immigrant striving to assert her agency amidst the challenges of adapting to American society. Through Laura’s inventions, Alvarez symbolizes her quest for self-reinvention, challenging the prevailing idea that the American dream is solely defined by material prosperity. Through the use of Laura’s inventions as a symbol of her search for agency over her own life, Alvarez challenges the

They are expected to be the perfect housewife. Alvarez’s novel also examines the impacts of cultural differences throughout the process of assimilating, “The divided narrative highlights the conflict between two competing visions of ideal womanhood from which these daughters must choose—either the restrained domestic mistress of the Island or the politicized, independent woman of the United States” (Cox 144). This emphasizes the pressures people have to face when trying to conform to society’s standards. After Yo interacts with her significant other’s parents, she realizes how people treat people like herself, “His parents did most of the chatting, talking too slowly to me as if I wouldn’t understand native speakers; they complimented me on my ‘accentless’ English and observed that my parents must be so proud of me” (Alvarez 100).

She discusses how her culture uses their language against each other, especially the Latinas and Chicanas, they will speak English to each other to keep it neutral. She gives the reader very vivid memories from her childhood and how being raised poor affects her identity as a person. She discusses how Mexicans identify themselves; since there are many different ways to identify culture, they make up several different cultures (Indian, Black, and Mexican). By the end she talks about the fight that Mexicans put up to stand up for their culture and their identity.

The narrator feels as though she has stronger ties to her American culture than she has to her Mexican roots. She even refers to her grandmother as "awful" because she has a strong dislike for all American culture and even prays for her relatives in America. Though the narrator clearly identifies more with

The central idea of this story is Reyna's childhood in Mexico and her journey to the United States to reunite with her parents. It emphasizes the emotional and physical distance that separates families through the difficulty of family, immigration, and the quest for a better life. In The Distance Between Us, Reyna explores the many difficulties she encountered while pursuing her immigration, noting the emotional costs and

The story illustrates the overlapping influences of women’s status and roles in Mexican culture, and the social institutions of family, religion, economics, education, and politics. In addition, issues of physical and mental/emotional health, social deviance and crime, and social and personal identity are

source for information and inspiration. She makes the argument that in a Mexican family, the girl is only

When she came to America, she had no clue how difficult her new life and how lonely she would feel. Especially, she felt embarrassed because her grandparents were still speaking very loudly in Spanish when they came to pickup her at school. It was not until she saw that her grandparents also had a hard time leaving the country and realized that it was for her and her sister’s best future. At that point, the teenager decided to replace with an ambition to work hard to repay to her grandparents for what they did. Although, both teens came from a different country to the U.S., but they involved were embarrassed of their culture in their new

Again, the story shows lots of examples in how the Sandoval family had to go through many discriminating acts. At the end of the Story Mariana, daughter of Pete, Granddaughter of Neftali falls in love with an Anglo Rich boy who never learned to accept Mariana because she was Mexican. Society has characterized Mexican Americans as unintelligent, dirty, and lazy people, therefor seeing an Anglo male with a Mexican girl was not common, and even if one did not think that at the time, Anglos were still embarrassed to be seen interacting with Mexicans, which could potentially degrade their name. Marianas Boyfriend David makes Mariana get an abortion on chapter seven, promising her a future; even though, Striver was planning on leaving Mariana after the abortion and planned to start a new life. This part of the story is absolutely saddening because Mariana died, thinking Stiver loved her, and was going to have a future with her. Mariana is not one only unfortunate girl who had this happen to her, but a Mexican woman during this era was only seen for maids, prostitutes, factory/field workers, or simply nothing. This shows the indifference Mexican American woman had to face, which was much different that Anglo woman.

Cristina Henriquez’, The Book of Unknown Americans, folows the story of a family of immigants adjusting to their new life in the United States of America. The Rivera family finds themselves living within a comunity of other immigrants from all over South America also hoping to find a better life in a new country. This book explores the hardships and injustices each character faces while in their home country as well as withina foreign one, the United States. Themes of community, identity, globalization, and migration are prevalent throughout the book, but one that stood out most was belonging. In each chacters viewpoint, Henriquez explores their feelings of the yearning they have to belong in a community so different than the one that they are used to.