1. One character that has developed throughout the story is Sofia. The way that she developed was when she became independent from her father and went off on her own. She felt like she was being held down by her father. Once they moved to America her life was shaped. She liked the freedom that America had given her. She was already the "ugly duck" of the family. The relationship between her and her father suffered when they moved there because she started living a loose lifestyle in America. Sofia had her fair share of men in her life until she finally met the right one. He lived in Germany, so she fled to Germany to get married. Her father was disappointed in her actions and his view of his daughter changed. He thought of her as a "whore" more or less. Even so, it had a positive impact on her life. She disappointed her father but it was for the better in her life. When she came back to America she had children and made her father happier. She felt she owed it to her father to come back and make things right again. Coming to America shaped the life of Sofia.
2. Reading this book, it is hard to find any postive aspects. Julia Alvarez mostly focuses on the negative aspects of the Garcia girl's lives. It probably makes it more interesting to read that way. If it was all positve it would not be an interesting read. One chapter of the book that I found pretty positive is the "Snow" chapter. It talked about how Yolanda was adjusting in her new school in America. This time era is around the Cold War Era. During the cold war their was the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a lot of the schools in America would practice bombing drills. One afternoon Yolanda saw snow come out of the sky. She thought that it was a warning of a bomb, but when she found out it was snow, she was pleasantly surprised. Back in the Dominican Republic she never witnessed snow. It was a positive moment because she thought it was beautiful. Her teacher explained to her that each snow flake was unique and beautiful just like everyone else. It made her feel good about herself even know negative change was going on around her.
3. The story about Jeremy Lin is a national conversation that has been going on in sports for a while now. If I had to take a view on this debate I would have to say that it's an exciting story. He has become somewhat of a cinderella story. I think that people hype him up because he is a minority in the NBA. People enjoy the idea that he is Asian, and only a couple of Asians have came through the NBA and started and uproar. People do not expect Asians to be good at basketball because they are known for being unbelieveable smart. No one was expecting him to be a huge deal. There is still racism that exists today but it is not nearly as bad as it was back in the days. 30 years ago it was unheard of for an Asian to play basketball, but today it is more acceptable in society. And yet, Jeremy Lin has become a penomonon and the huge story in basketball. I think the surprise was more of his skill.
For question two, my answer was very similar to yours. I also noted that the book was short of positive aspects, but the chapter I did think was positive was Snow. I bet a lot of other people in our class chose to talk about Snow because it was one of the rare positive moments in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. It is interesting how you think that Sofia's terrible relationship with her father positively shaped her life, and after reading your explanation I agree with you. She would not be the person she is today without her fathers harsh criticism, and in the end, everything worked out, because she is now married with a baby.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about your views on Jeremy Lin Kara, people do have stereotypes about Asian Americans. People tend to lean that they are unbelievably smart and are not athletically capable. As the ignorance dies we find that more and more people can finally see that we are equal. It is because of people like Jeremy Lin that change finally came. I have to disagree with some of what you said about Sofia and her finding Identity. I Do not think it was America that gave her identity. I think it is the fact that she defied her father because of his tyranny that she finally gained self-identity.
ReplyDelete