In the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, by Julia Alvarez, we learn about how four girls grow up: moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States. The main character is one of the sisters, Yolanda, and her obstacles and memories are portrayed through each chapter. Her obstacle throughout her life includes: trying to be an individual at her youth, to trying to fit in with the Americans in her teens, until finally as an adult she tries to find her balance: by fitting in with everyone else but being herself (an individual) at the same time. .
As a child, Yolanda tried to be an individual apart from her three sisters. "Each of the four girls had the same party dress, school clothes, underwear, toothbrush, bedspread, nightgown, plastic cup, towel, brush and comb set as the other three." (p. 41). Yolanda and her sisters didn't like this method but Yolanda was the only one that rebelled against it. She wanted to express herself compared to having everything the same as her sisters. "My mother disapproved. It was high time I got over my rebelling stage and started acting like a young lady senorita." (p. 228). Yolanda's grandmother bought an American cowgirl outfit for her from New York City and her mother didn't agree with it and thought of her as some type of "tomboy." Yolanda felt her mother was insecure and frightened. She felt that someday one of the four girls was going to go there own way and not know what to do with all the freedom and individuality they are allowed to express. The color coding system was "just easier" and "saved time" for their mother. Throughout the story, "Yoyo" refers back to the different ways she tries to be an individual and the overall conclusion of how she thinks it effected her as an adult. .
When Yoyo was in her teens, her, her parents, and her three sisters were forced to move to the United States. Here, Yoyo, along with her sisters, had many difficulties as well as plenty of new experiences.
