"I saw myself being swallowed up by a country that still scared me--- it's muchness, its power, its cruel blond beauty."
-Narrator, Julia Alvarez.
Significance :
This quote relates to the challenges upon Julia's arrival in America. She thinks back on when she first came and grew up here. Its like assimilation for Julia. She originally came from the Dominican Republic, and she changed from when she was in her home country, to when she was growing up. In the book, she recalls that she was sort of like more well behaved, and listened to her parents, but when she came to the U.S, she began to act more independent and developed her own sense of pride, which means that she pretty much just began to rebel. It was hard for her to not follow the american culture, since she began hanging out with american girls, and started to want to act like them, be like them. Wear short skirts, tight clothes, hang out with them at the mall, sleep over at each other's houses, etc. Her parents began to worry that they would lose control over Julia and her sisters, and always accused them. It was hard for Julia to not give into this trend, this american culture, being under pressure from her parents.
Personal Connection :
I guess I can relate to this because I've felt this way before when my friends invite me to go to the mall, and there are other kids there too, who are dressed in flashy clothing, and have that atrocious behavior. When I see them, I feel left out because I'm different, whilst that group of children, yes, children, are the exceptionally "cool" ones because they follow the same trend. Seeing them, I want to be like them to experience how it is, and just fit in. But really, no one can truly "fit in" because everyone is DIFFERENT. The feeling fled as soon as it came, so I learned. JUST BE YOURSELF, GEEZ. Ha. (;
Quote :(Yeah this one's kinda early tooooooo . ) PAGE 7 & PARAGRAPH 2 !
"It is also a touching symbol of the emotional, spiritual, as well as financial investment of a whole community in this young person. Why aren't others adopting this custom?"
Significance :
This relates to that, "How do the characters maintain their cultural ties to their homeland while living in america ?" question. Well, the answer is simple. They still have their Quinceaneras! Since most in the book are of Latino decent, it would only be natural to have a Quinceanera. Many of the young girls are pestered by their mothers to have a Quincearnera because its a very important passage in, not just a latina girl, but every girl's(though they don't have Quinceanaras; this refers to that one last bit of the quote.)life. Your finally becoming a woman! You can shave your legs, and apply some make up! Yeah ! Julia Alvarez maintains her tie to her homeland by actually, just writing this book!
Its all about the Quinceaneras!
Personal Conncection :
I'd say I can relate to this quote because since I am of Laotian decent, the way I keep my ties to "my country" I guess you would say, is because I still go the temple, which is religion thing sorta in Lao. And like those Latina girls, my parents are the ones always pestering me to go and do it. I always wonder one thing though. Would I still go to the temple even when my parents are not there to tell me? Truthfully, I don't know! I'm still young, and I'm not looking into that yet. I understand that my parents want me to actually know about where they came from, and what they did there, but It is indeed difficult when your a young girl born and raised in america, engrossed in this culture.
THE SECOND QUOTE WAS NOT ON PAGE 7! IT WAS ON PAGE 77 .
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