How Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent Essay

The Treacherous Life of College Students
The 1960s was the time of rebellion and experimentation. Fresh out of high school eighteen year olds who decided to attend college entered into a world of no rules. If you were on your own with no parents to watch your every move would you still follow rules during a time when breaking rules was in? The novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent by Julia Alvarez follows the Garcia family throughout their journey in migrating to the United States and finding themselves in college. The sisters break rules as they encounter the Counterculture of the 1960s questioning their traditions and beliefs during the rebellious era. Once students arrived to college they made their own decisions of what they believed in, protested for their beliefs, and have gender roles play a part in their studies. Alvarez demonstrates through her characters that the 1960s was a time for protesting their individual beliefs, standing up for one another, and change in order to bring peace into the world.
Once students arrived to college they were like kittens with a pack of lions, on their own with no one around to tell them what they could or

could not do. The college students were able to make decisions for themselves and decided their beliefs. For instance, "in entering college, freshman step into a complex environment containing alternative student cultures, each with its own standards and values" (Horowitz,1). Without their kindred to guide them and witnessing the different cultures of their classmates, these newly college students were free to change their traditions and beliefs. Students were also able to party without being stopped or even have their parents know. When class was not in session "the real parties went on in the men's dorms. Mostly guys migrated from one room to another, smoking a little dope, drinking a lot. There were the heavy rooms for dropping acid or taking mushrooms" (Alvarez,95) similarly, the Garcia sisters took turns talking to papi and mami while the others were out partying. College students experimented with alcohol and drugs when they were not in class. The 1960's was the time of acting out especially by not having parents around to stop it. The buoyant students did as they pleased by having wild parties in their dorms, consuming drugs they knew were no good for them, and getting drunk with their classmates and voiced their opinions.
Traditions were old fashioned and protest were used in hopes of gaining allurement from the media in order to create change. The lively eighteen year old students felt as if they could change the world and do as they pleased. For example, pleasure seeking young men who valued style and openly pursued ambition rioted against college presidents and faculty who were determined to put them in their place" (Horowitz,3). During the rebellion era college students were not going to allow being pushed around. Students did not protest just because they thought it was fun but to bring peace into the world. Students were protesting serious issues like "the school's decision to displace black housing to build a gymnasium" (Counterculture, 3). Scholars wanted to bring peace and no longer allow racism in their schools. College students were willing to do whatever it took like setting draft cards on fire, fighting with military recruiters, and starting sit-ins. During their protest "on campuses, demonstrations included draft card burning, confrontations with military recruiters, and sit-ins to protest ROTC programs"(Counterculture,2). The students had opinions of their own, they were no longer going to obey rules they did not believe in, be bossed around by police, or be told what they could and could not do which made protest inevitable. College scholars voiced their different opinions in hopes of making changes.
Although the their was more gender equality during the 1960s gender roles still played a role. Men did not take college as serious as the women did. While in her English class Yolanda's classmate Rudy Elmenhurst walked in late, asked if Yolanda could "lend him a piece of paper and a pen", and did not complete his first assignment because he had "gotten stuck" but had been asking Yolanda out for lunch the night before. Yolanda completed and arrived to class on time while Rudy on the other hand arrived to class late, was not prepared, and had uncompleted assignments. College men did not see college as a privilege like women did. For instance, "No real college man ever expected to learn in the classroom, not at least the kind of knowledge that bore any relation to his future life in the world. College did not entice men and they had no perseverance to even try. Woman were also distinct complications. Woman had to protest "for better working conditions, higher wages, and childcare" (Rotskoff,124). Men and women faced different struggles than each other in hopes to better their lives. Although both genders were now allowed to attend college they lived different lifestyles.
During the protesting era of the 1960s college life took a turn. The changes witnessed by the Garcia girls when they became college students. After witnessing the multitude of traditions their classmates had, college students were enticed to experiment. The use of dangerous drugs and alcohol proliferated. College students are like an abandoned wolf desperate to find its pack in order to fit in. Scholars also wanted to be heard, they were willing to do whatever it took in order to get their way. Protests took place in colleges to get media attention and make changes happen. The 1960s was a time for change in everything from college life to equality, students were no longer going to follow outdated traditions they did not believe in.

Summaries
The Feminine Mystique
Lori E. Rotskoff rethought the origins of the 1960s feminism through the life and work of Betty Friedan. Friedan became the most famous "suburban housewife" in the United States. Women were allowed to vote and drive but became bored and felt as If they did not reach their full potential. Mami in the Dominican Republic was wealthy like the American women. The 1960s was the time of war and divided gender rolls. Women began working but were still treated poorly. Women protested for better working conditions, higher wages, and childcare. Men were still paid more even though women were doing the same job. In the 1960s women started to want a better life alike the men and ought or their rights. Women started going to school to learn and better themselves. Colleges were no longer only for men.
College Campus Culture
In the 1960s the cultures in school began to change drastically.

Males did not take school as serious as they should have. Ruy also did not make writing his poem a main priority like I-will-stay-up-late-to-finish-writing Yolanda. College was also the time for college students to find themselves not only career wise but also in religions and traditions. People with different traditions all mixed in one place ready to experiment. The Garcia girls also experimented with drugs in college and as an outcome they were punished and Sofia was forced to stay in the Dominican Republic for an entire year. While in college the Garcia girls were able to make their own decisions and no longer had mami and papi watching their every move. The men just wanted to be pleasured like Rudy who was only after one thing from

Yolanda.