The interpretations of the characters is greatly known throughout Julia Alvarez’s “Daughter of Invention” and is well hidden deep within the layers of what the story is trying to reflect. In the short story, the reader is able to identify the characters’ distinct personalities with ease – however, most readers do not muster the time to comprehend any evident changes that makes the character what they are. As hinted, the father is known as a gentle and passive man who loves to pass on his tradition and youth to his daughter – Cukita (92). This later changes when he ends up throwing a tantrum in outrage at Cukita’s speech (94). To the average reader, it’s explicit that the father’s character is known to be lazy and angry, but don’t acknowledge the reasoning behind his and any other character’s behavior.
Furthermore, the text proves that based on the characters’ dialogue – it affects the way they think. The mother refuses to declare her inventions to her husband and instead shows the sketches to her daughters by exclaiming, “[She has] something to show [her]” (88). This indicates that the father doesn’t seem to care so much about his wife’s bright inventions and instead tries to drag on his Dominican Republic side solemnly. He would be shown cast away under the gloomy shadows in the dark
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corner of his room, as the daughter points out (86). This signifies his way of thinking, which he still thinks like a Dominican Republican despite being in a new country, new setting, and new politics. Attached to his native country, he doesn’t try to speak English in possible fear of letting go of his home country forever.
This can be proven by the father’s first lines of speech being “Que pasa? Que pasa?” (90). It’s understandable since parents and generations behind feel like it’s a need for their mother tongue and traditions to be passed on. Although, the reader is introduced to the father speaking in broken English with rapid fury, arguing to his daughter by provoking, “What ees wrrrong with her eh-speech?”(94). This sparks a fuse between him and his wife which causes the daughter to retort something about his past and made him realize why he was acting the way he
was. Unknown to a blunt reader, background information is required to have at least a bit of knowledge to comprehend the father’s capricious mood. The father talks very low at first due to the fear of any person lurking around in uniform to imprison him (94). This fear generated back in the Dominican Republic where soldiers had killed his family and the father was left – anxious. His behavior has shifted from quiet to angry and to the final step which shows his humane side despite what the daughter had responded. “He loves [her]” and “He wants to protect [her]” reflects how much he does care about his daughter and he even bought her a typewriter as an apology gift (96) and starts encouraging her. The development of the characters -- specifically the father, shows how layered someone’s intentions really mean. This gives the reader an example that behind someone’s actions lays a reason, and behind that reason lays the truth.
The excerpt from “First muse” by Julia Alvarez is a story about her Dominican cultural background. Alvarez has been looked different based on her ability to speak English. Due to Alvarez not have a “Dominican education and her ability to speak English” bullied and teased. As a child Alvarez had told her mom that she does not want to just be the stay home wife who just cooks and cleans like every other wife she wants she does to be different, she wants to be more than just a stay home wife when she get older. It’s ok to know more than one language, but at the same time to should always stay truth to your cultural background/inherent. Just because Alvarez knows English does not make her a different Dominican girl because she knows Spanish too.
Tan’s essay on Mother Tongue depicts a story of a daughter who grew up learning different type of “Englishes” (510). The latter described as the kind of English wherein on may regard as “simple”, yet she fondly refers to as her “Mother’s English”. In addition is the “broken English” or Tan’s mother’s communication style with her. Lastly is Tan’s own translation of her mother’s English that she described as “watered down.” An impression that is distinctly different from Tan’s loving description of her Mother’s English, Rodriguez connotes feelings of detachment. Rodriguez’s childhood consist of traditional catholic educators who expected a non-native speaker communicate in English. As a result, the young Rodriguez socially withdrew which prompt the nun teachers to approach the parents regarding the language issue. Since then, life has changed for Rodriguez, thus the beginning of what seem to be a detachment from his own family. Unlike Tan’s warm story of her Mother’s broken English, Rodriguez’s childhood experience connotes feelings of
Memory is both a blessing and a curse; it serves as a reminder of everything, and its meaning is based upon interpretation. In Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies Dedé lives through the memory of her family and her past. She tells the stories of her and her sisters lives leading up to their deaths, and reflects upon those memories throughout her daily life. Dedé lives on for her sisters, without her sisters, but all along carrying them with her throughout her life, never moving on. Dedé lives with the shame, sadness, and regret of all that has happened to her sisters, her marriage, and her family. Dedé’s memories serve as a blessing in her eyes, but are a burden
In “Se Habla Español,” the author, Tanya, talks about her personal experience with dealing with language issues. Tanya was born in Guatemala and moved to the U.S when she was only three years old. Tanya’s mother did not want her to speak Spanish, because they believed that when they moved to the U.S speaking only English would help her blend in. For so long Tanya believed that speaking Spanish went hand in hand with being poor and speaking only English made her feel superior. After many years she has tried to learn Spanish but has found it quite difficult because although that is her native language it was like trying to learning a whole new language for her. In “Mother Tongue,” Amy’s explains how she has come to the realization that she speaks more than one “English,” meaning that the way she speaks in front of a crowd is different than the way she speaks with her mother. The way Amy speaks with her mother is still English although it is not proper. Amy expresses how she does not really like the phrase “broken English,” because if something is broken it needs to be fixed and she does not feel that her mother’s English needs to be
In “Confetti Girl”, the narrator disagrees with her father and questions how much he cares about her and in “Tortilla Girl”, the narrator questions if her mother was taking her into account of her new plans. Tension is shown to be caused in the stories “Confetti Girl” and “Tortilla Sun” due to the parent and narrator not having the same point of view. In this story, a young girl named Izzy lives alone with her mother. One day, the mother surprises her by explaining that she is going to Costa Rica to do some research, and that Izzy is going to her grandmother’s house while she is away.
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
Tan makes an appeal to emotion with the connections she describes. A connection between a mother and daughter that is wrought with emotion is as relatable as humaneness is to a human. There is a soft declaration to be found in Tan’s statement, “I knew I had succeeded where it counted when my mother finished reading my book and gave me her verdict: “So easy to read.” Tan gains trust by appealing to emotion with something as understandable as the loving and more often than not tension riddled connection between a mother and her daughter. Tan incorporates the intimacy of the “broken” language in correlation to her husband with these words, “It has become our language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk, the language I grew up with” (Tan 1). Under the assumption that Louis DeMattei (Tan’s husband) has no prior history with the Chinese Language Tan makes an important point of the use of the “broken” language she learned from her mother. Demattei doesn’t inquire or correct Tan when she switches between the English she acquired from the vast expanses of English literature and the English she acquired from her mother. Tan says, “he even uses it with me,” there is an implied level of comfort within the relationship she has with her husband. Tan shares what is viewed as “broken” and in need of fixing with Demattei and he reciprocates, leaving them
...book. These symbols and recurrences are not coincidental or superficial, but upon investigation, give deeper insight into how deeply the mindset of our main character was affected. We now know that Felipe had almost no choice and was lulled into this household. Then there is a plausible explanation about the true relationship between Aura and Senora Consuelo. This book turns out to be a very strange life/death cycle that still leaves questions that need to be answered.
Firstly, in the author’s childhood, he felt ashamed of his parents poor English. To support this experience, Rodriguez shows his embarrassment by saying, “I tried not to hear anymore… I
In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...
Cisneros starts the essay by reflecting on an anthology for a work that she wrote where she stated “I am the only daughter in a family of six sons. That explains everything” (Cisneros 366). Right after she introduces herself as how she sees herself now as the statement that she had written she feels does not explain enough about her to the reader. Next, she then goes into her story of how she sees herself and what has made her who she is. This explanation is taken throughout the entire essay as she explains how she got to where she was in her career. Her thesis is that growing up alone in isolation made her work hard to prove herself to her father. The thesis is very obvious in the essay and Cisneros successfully uses proves her thesis as she explains her childhood with her dad in the center of attention. Although others may argue that Cisneros’ relationship affects who she is in a negative way, Cisneros successfully proves the relationship between the two positively affects who she
The article Mother Tongue, by Amy Tan is a personal look into how language, and the dialects of that language, can affect a person 's life. It 's a look into how the people inside the cultural circles who use dialect derivatives of a major language are treated by people who exist outside of those cultural circles. It shows us how society treats a person using a "broken" or "limited" dialect, and how society 's treatment of these people can also affect the children who grow up using these "broken" dialects. Tan wrote this article try and convey to the reader that English is a colorful, and ever-changing language that has many dialects. Tan makes the point, several times throughout the article, that society judges you based on the type of English that you use. Throughout the article, Tan uses both her mother, herself and society 's treatment of them as evidence to support her idea. The purpose of pointing this out is to show the reader that the language a person uses, whether it be taught to them in school or by a parent at home, isn 't indicative of a person 's intelligence or value, and they shouldn 't be judged as less for using it.
Even though they probably spent a substantial amount of money on the gifts, Rodriguez's siblings do not seem to care whether or not their family members like their gifts. Additionally, one of the siblings “groans” after somebody asks if anyone wants any refreshments. The person’s groan suggests that they are miserable around their other family members. The siblings should be happy to be celebrating together, but they are more interested in getting back to their personal lives. As the siblings leave the house and head into the dark towards their “expensive foreign cars”, one of them shouts “Don’t come out” at either their mother or father as it is too cold outside. Rodriguez could not tell if the person was addressing his mother or father. The person did not even turn around fully to address them as they were in such a rush to get home. Although they told their parents that it is too cold for them to come outside, the person probably just wanted to leave the home as quickly as possible. In addition, expensive cars are parked in the dark. The image of the cars in the dark associates darkness with
In her narrative Mother Tongue, Amy Tan speaks of how the English language has shaped her life, drawing from personal experiences in her early life, to her daily use of English in the present. Tan begins her narrative by identifying her own “mother tongue”, which is simply the broken English her mother uses and has been accustomed to. Tan says that due to her mother’s broken English some are unable to understand her, thereby limiting Tan’s mother to function properly in our English speaking society. Tan shows the reader how her feelings toward her mother tongue have changed throughout her life drawing out a personal experience from her adolescence.
This novel focuses on the importance of family in various ways such as culture, values and ethics and the symbolism of light. The light signifies the importance of staying close to your family. Patricia Glinton-Meicholas whom is a lady of many hats – writer, cultural critic, academic and educator – define male dominance in the household and the values and ethics the children follow by all throughout the book as a important part of the Bahamian culture. The sun is symbolic of family in that the sun never chang...