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Reference List

1. Potteiger, M., & Purinton, J. (1998). Landscape narratives: Design practices for telling stories. New York: J. Wiley.

They firmly believe a certain control will benefit them, as they are weaker in their minds. The narrative then flows backward, tracing the transition the girls had to make as they strive to create an identity that is both Latina and American. As implied in the title, language plays a vital role in the transculturalization of the Garcia girls, into their assimilation into American popular culture. The acquisition of English language skills as well as American argot was a vital step in the Garcia girls' forging of their dual identity.

2. Johnson, K. L. (2005). Julia Alvarez: Writing a new place on the map. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico press.

Alvarez gives many examples throughout the novel that depict the female characters as trying to both challenge and conform to the tradition gender roles expected of them by their traditional Dominican heritage. The youngest of the sister challenged and conformed at times many of the traditional general roles expected of her by her patriarchal culture. It can be argued that sisters assimilated to the American society’s gender roles quicker and easier than her sisters because she was the youngest when they moved to America she only really experienced her traditional Hispanic culture when going back to spend summers with her extended family.

3. Porter, D., & Garcia, Y. (1998). Remember who you are. Sedona, AZ: New Life Publications.

The American versions of each are free-thinking, independent woman, while the Hispanic versions are almost treated as second-class citizens whose value is held in how well they can cook and clean for their men. Throughout the novel, the Garcia sisters fight to find out who they truly are American-Hispanics or Hispanic-Americans. In the end, all four girls learn to balance their Hispanic heritage with their contradictory American ties.

4. Garcia, . C. Y. (2008). El proceso ejecutivo en el contencioso administrativo. Bogotá: Ediciones Nueva Juridica.

An inner conflict of abandoning her traditions takes shape for Sandi in the section of the flamenco dancers and a drunken Mrs. Fanning. Mrs. Fanning represents the liberal and wild American culture, rudely interrupting the flamenco dancers and making a fool of herself, while the dancers represent the beauty, sensuality and grace of Sandi’s Dominican roots. This is a place where the society agreed with any demands and made everything change fast.

5. Alvarez, Julia. (2010). How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. Turtleback Books.

Many of the characters felt pressure from two sources, the patriarchal culture that promotes traditional gender roles and society of nineteen-sixties and seventies America. Dominican tradition heavily enforces the patriarchal family and leaves little room for female empowerment or individuality, whereas in the United States, the sixties and seventies were times of increasingly liberal views and a rise in feminist ideals. This conflict shaped the identities of the characters in Alvarez’s novel and often tore the characters apart for one another

6. In Champion, L., & In Austin, R. (2002). Contemporary American women fiction writers: An A-to-Z guide. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

7. Ropers-Huilman, B. (2003). Gendered futures in higher education: Critical perspectives for change. Albany: State University of New York Press.

8. Great American writers: twentieth century: Volume 4, Eliot - Frost. (2002). NY: Marshall Cavendish.