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Summary of I Want to be Miss America by Julia Alvarez

            Summary of "I Want to be Miss America" by Julia Alvarez.
             Moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States can be a hard enough change to deal with, but for Julia Alvarez and her three sisters coming to a new country and actually fitting in proved to be a much harder task. After watching the Miss America beauty pageant on television with their father every year, Julia and her sisters longed to be like the American girls in the pageant. The sisters all wanted to fit in but with their short, frizzy hair and olive color skin they felt they needed to make some changes. The Miss America pageant gave them ideas of how to be acknowledged as an American. American girls had freedom as well as the blonde hair, blue eyes, leggy figures and the peaches and cream skin. Not only did the sisters long to achieve the looks of the American girls but they wanted the freedom of choice as well. They were born into a culture that groomed girls not to have any aspirations other than being a good wife and mother. Later America's fashion changed and it was suddenly hip to be ethnic and different. Everyone wanted to be like Julia and her sisters, but it was too late. The damage to Julia's self-esteem was already done and she had begun to doubt whether she would ever fit in anywhere. .
            


Essays Related to Summary of I Want to be Miss America by Julia Alvarez

1. Julia Alvarez and the Dominican Republic

"To Dominicans separated by language from the world I have created, I hope this book deepens North Americans' understanding of the nightmare you endured and the heavy losses you suffered-of which this story tells only a few" (Alvarez 324). ... In Julia Alvarez's essay, Our Papers, Julia's godmother, whom was a very beautiful woman, found a way to convince Trujillo to let her leave the country just by telling him he was a gentleman that would not refuse a favor to a lady (Alvarez 13). ... However, when Julia asked her godmother where she wanted to go, she replied, &quo...

  • Word Count: 1913
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

2. The Life and Literature Work of Julia Alvarez

Haunted by her past, Julia Alvarez has portrayed her immigrant experience as both painful and ambiguous. ... Born in New York City, Julia Alvarez's family moved back to the Dominican Republic a few weeks later. ... Alvarez is quoted as admitting, "I am a Dominican, hyphen, American. ... Through the use of language, Julia Alvarez attempts to make a poignant statement. ... Julia Alvarez's assumption that her plight is unknowable is both prejudicial and hostile. ...

  • Word Count: 2799
  • Approx Pages: 11
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Critique: How I Learned to Sweep

Critique: How I Learned to Sweep The poem "How I Learned to Sweep" is written beautifully. I like the rhyme scheme and the pentameter. I think its very unique how the author, Julia Alvarez, ties together the sweeping with the broom and the sweeping of the weeds from a helicopter dropping off troops. ... Another visually strong element is this " I swept all the harder when I watched a dozen of them die as if their dust fell through the screen upon the floor I had just cleaned." ... I think this is a good quality poem I would like to read more by Julia Alvarez because I liked this selec...

  • Word Count: 197
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Garcia Girls

Lost Identities In the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez brings to mind an important topic in regards to all adolescents, worldwide, and that is a sense of identity. ... That being, a longing sense to be American. ... She spends time committed in a mental institution claiming "I have monkey hands" (54). ... Through many different aspects and perspectives, Alvarez teaches the reader each individual heart of the four girls. ... Alvarez truly depicted the lives of four young women, yearning for a sense of identity, and in the end, finding it. ...

  • Word Count: 809
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Poetry Comparison - Fog and Dusting

The poem, "Fog," by Carl Sandburg, and the poem, "Dusting," by Julia Alvarez, show literary elements including imagery, figurative language, sound, rhythm. ... "Dusting," by Julia Alvarez, the poet uses her imprints as symbolism in the poem. ... "Each morning I wrote my name/ on the dusty cabinet, then crossed/ the dining table in script, scrawled/ in capitals on the back of chairs/ practicing signatures like scales" (lines 1-5). I believe the poet is trying to compare the girl's aspiration's to her mom's. ... In my opinion, I believe the...

  • Word Count: 544
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Julia

Julia (by well Julia) When we learn about history (American, world or otherwise), we consume it as life changing events that shape the world we live in today. ... When studying the history of African- American television, I look with a prideful eye on the hit sitcom, Julia. ... Just like I know that during the same year that Julia first aired, Kennedy was assassinated, Dr. ... "Everyone wanted to see better portrayal of blacks, but not too much better," says my mom. ... At the same time, I think it was important to see that there is more than one side of life for African Americans. ...

  • Word Count: 726
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Unique Writing Process

I couldn't focus on my writing nor did I want to because I just couldn't stand it. ... I would go there with good intent and really want to get stuff down but I was just way too lazy to do so. ... In Julia Alvarez's "Writing Matters" she goes on in depth about how to explore yourself while writing. ... On my good days, which are very rare, I kind of enjoy writing and don't want to stop no matter what. ... " If Alvarez and Elbow had a sit down they would mutually agree on most subjects. ...

  • Word Count: 2024
  • Approx Pages: 8
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Floor Show- How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Floor Show In Julia Alvarez's novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, the section entitled Floor Show, fits thematically with the rest of the novel in the theme of assimilation and how it manifests itself in terms of rebellion and conformity. ... This becomes an issue with the girls as well, as they, too, are forced to assimilate into the "melting pot- of American culture. They are being forced to act in such a way that will appeal to American society, not the Dominican way of life in which they were raised. ... Furthermore, another way in which the Garcia girls are forced t...

  • Word Count: 789
  • Approx Pages: 3

9. Aunt julia

Critical Essay Aunt Julia By Norman MacCaig Norman MacCaig is a Scottish poet. I have recently read a poem of his called Aunt Julia. ... In my essay I am going to explore the mood of reflection expressed in this poem. ... By the time he is able to speak a little Gaelic she had past away and this made him angry because he had questions that he wanted to ask her. This poem is all about how he sees his aunt Julia, he is only a young boy, we can tell this from the way the poem is written, it has repetition in various places such as, " I could not answer her " " I coul...

  • Word Count: 481
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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