50 pages • 1 hour read
Julia AlvarezHow the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Raphael Trujillo and the Revolution in the Dominican Republic
The Garcia family is forced to leave the Dominican Republic in the novel because their father, Carlos Garcia, is part of a revolution against dictator Raphael Trujillo, a revolution that occurred in real life during the time in which the novel is set. While Trujillo is barely mentioned in the novel, his regime, considered one of the deadliest in Latin American history, provides the impetus for all that occurs in the book because as a political opponent, Carlos’s life would have been in real danger under Trujillo. Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until 1961, when he was assassinated. Trujillo worked to have positive propaganda about him released throughout the country while he used his position in the military and placements of family members in positions of power to retain violent control.
Trujillo, himself, grew up in poverty. His actions while he was in power served to elevate aspects of the Dominican Republic’s economy, but his subjugation of and violence against those in his country dominates international opinion about him, as he detained and murdered people at will. While his grandmother was Haitian, his regime perpetuated and promoted hate against Haitian people, and as is explained in the novel, he called for the execution of Haitian people with dark complexions. Julia Alvarez delves more deeply into this portion of Dominican history in her book In the Time of the Butterflies, which is a fictional account of four real-life sisters who worked to overturn Trujillo’s regime, and three of them were murdered by the state as a consequence. While How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents does not go into nearly the level of political detail that In the Time of the Butterflies does, the plot of the novel is no less influenced by the murderous regime of Trujillo and his government.
Authorial Context: Julia Alvarez
In many ways, Alvarez’s life was influenced by Rafael Trujillo in the same ways that the Garcia sisters’ lives were. Alvarez was born in the United States and immigrated to the Dominican Republic as a young infant. Her family, much like the Garcias, was forced to flee back to the United States to avoid imprisonment at the hands of Trujillo.
Alvarez was born in 1950, right in the middle of Trujillo’s murderous rule. After her family immigrated to the United States, she faced many of the same problems the Garcia girls do in her novel. She struggled with prejudice, with not fitting in, and with language difficulties. She is quoted as having said that it was the English language, rather than the United States itself, where she found a home. Alvarez’s love of language is reflected in this book’s protagonist, Yolanda.
As an adult, Alvarez has published novels, short stories, and poetry collections. Many of these works deal with various aspects of the immigrant experience, some specifically referring to the experience of Dominican Republican immigrants coming to the United States. One of her most notable novels, In the Time of the Butterflies, tells the story of four sisters who led a real-life revolt against the Trujillo regime. Notably, both In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents tell the stories of four sisters—Alvarez, herself, is the second in a family of four girls. Alvarez and her husband run a sustainable coffee company and donate the proceeds to help literacy efforts in the Dominican Republic. Her husband is a doctor, and she has taught at numerous universities.
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