Discussion questions

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Note to readers: These questions are meant to get your conversations about the book started. But remember, it’s a discussion, not a test!

• How does the story of the Garcia Girls relate to your own experience, either as an immigrant or someone with friends and neighbors from other countries?
• The story is about how the daughters adjusted to American life. What’s your impression of how the parents adapted and changed as Americans? [e.g. relationships to and expectations of their daughters]
• What did you think of the structure of the book, starting in the present and working backward in time? If you were to tell your own story of, e.g. coming to Cambridge, where would start? (e.g. present, immediate past, childhood?)
• What impact did the Trujillo dictatorship have on the girls while they were in the Dominican Republic? [E.g. how aware were they, how frightened, did they accept the situation as normal?]
• Who is telling the story of the Garcia Girls? [Voices change from first to third person, subheads identify the person whose story is being told, but who in your opinion is telling the story?]
• What are some of the customs of the Dominican Republic that are different from American customs? [e.g. parental roles, expectations for marriage, degree of freedom of expression, etc.?]
• Which stories in the book did you feel were the most interesting takes on American society, and why? [E.g. school, dating, respect for [parents, sisterhood, etc.]
• What are your thoughts, based on the book, about how Dominican and Haitian people differ? [e.g., religion, politics, oppression, class structure]
• What are your general impressions of the four sisters? [How would you characterize them? Who changed the most in America?]
• Two of the daughters in the story spent some time in mental hospitals. Do you think the move to American was in some way the cause of their dysfunction?
• What is the significance of the last story in the book- Yolanda’s encounter with the kitten and the ghost cat?)