Blog Post nummer 2

 In the second part of “How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents” we learn more about their life from their young adult to teenage years. Differing from the first part, which explored a later part of their life, the book explores their young adult and teen years. The theme in this part of the book is also different. In this section, the four girls learn how to acclimate to the teenager lifestyle in America after moving from the Dominican republic, instead of acclimating to college life. The girls also come into their first contacts with close relationships and other adult themes.

As the girls are teenagers, they are pressured by the American way to become more American rather than retaining their traditional standards in America. They experience social pressures that other teens in America go through, but have the added stress from their parents that want them to be like. The parents keep them away from boys at every opportunity., whether it be on the way to school or when they want to go hang out. The parents think that if they can keep they're social life from expanding in America, they can keep their heritage intact. They go an extra measure too, as in the summer, the parents make the girls visit the Dominican republic for the whole time. They do this to keep the girls in touch with their family, but to also maintain their cultural image. The father is very resilient to have the girls even be in America, as they think they will blend with the culture and become a “Spanish American princess”. He is also afraid of them “whoring around”, and becoming versions of women he sees in the Dominican republic become unsuccessful.

The girls also experience their first serious relationships. Sofia falls in love with a man at the young age of sixteen, and the relationship becomes controlling. Her boyfriend, Manuel, becomes very controlling, keeping her in the house, regulating her contact with other people, and even telling her what she can or can't read. However, she becomes docile and unresistant, letting Manuel control her.