"Snow” by Julia Alvarez sees the relationship between a young girl, Yolanda, who is new to New York and Sister Zoe, her teacher at a Catholic School. The relationship between these two people highlights the overcoming of difficulties during a time of immense fear amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis. The bond between Yolanda and Sister Zoe is seen early in the story by introducing Yolanda, an immigrant and isolated as the only one in her class, to unfamiliar words and an understanding of American culture and speech. Yolanda began to assimilate to her new reality and began to slowly understand the atmosphere she was now in. During this time, it became clear that Russia had missiles of mass destruction clearly aimed at New York. Sister Zoe explained …show more content…
Later in the year, as fall turned to winter, snow began to fall. To Yolanda, she viewed the snowflakes as fallout. She reacted with screams of bomb. Sister Zoe, shocked at the reaction, had to explain that it was only snow. Yolanda, even though aware of the snow, had never seen it before and only heard of it happening from time to time. She, with the help of Sister Zoe, was able to see the frailty yet beauty of the world around her. This story highlights the themes of fear, misunderstanding, and the loss of innocence, showing how mentorship and compassion can transform an atmosphere of perpetual fear into opportunities to find the beauty around them. The relationship between Sister Zoe and Yolanda is crucial to the story. Yolanda referred to Sister Zoe as a grandmotherly figure, showing a familiarity to her. She also highlights the patience Sister Zoe showed by placing Yolanda in a seat so that she could get extra attention. It shows the dedication from a teacher to a student. I would characterize the relationship as a mentorship, something beyond student teacher and more into the cultural understanding needed to succeed in a new
and gives a variety of different perspective on certain life experiences. In Julia Alvarez’s short story Snow, Yolanda, an immigrant student, moved to New York. While attending a Catholic school in New York, bomb drills were performed. The teacher would explain why these drills were important. Yolanda later found out that her first experience of watching snow was not the best experience one could possibly have. Julia Alvarez was an example of how a Latina writer identified herself in a new culture outside
differently. For Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez, the separation allows Richard to move from the private world to the public world. Here, separation is a movement for a solution, which is citizenship. In How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent by Julia Alvarez, the separation is an effect from Antojo. Richard Rodriguez immediately recognizes the separations in his early life. He considers the inside of his house to be private and the outside of his house to be public. His family and the Spanish language
of the Butterflies is a book about sisters that fight to take their god-given right of freedom in the Dominican Republic. To win this freedom, the Mirabal sisters had to give up their safety, give up their childhoods, and give up their lives. Julia Alvarez, the author of the book, takes the readers through these sisters journey’s of fighting against their dictator Trujillo, and the many hardships while under this political oppression. It is evident in the book that some sisters had to be the leaders
between the author and anybody in the story, but when I read further into the Postscript I found a possible relationship. The Postscript says that Julia Alvarez "heard" about the story of the Mirabal Sisters when she was a young girl, therefore I knew she was not involved firsthand in the actions of the revolution because the times would not have fit. Alvarez mentions that she moved to New York, but made many trips back to the Dominican Republic. Also, she "sought out any information" about the sisters
The Character of Yolanda Garcia in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and !Yo! Julia Alvarez develops the character of Yolanda Garcia in some different and similar ways in her two books How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and its sequel !Yo!. The reasons for the differences in the two characterizations of Yolanda is that there is almost no continuity concerning her character in the two books-meaning that all the specific details of Yolanda's life given to the reader in the first book
gives you different view point’s from each of the sisters . It may also detract from the narrative because of the fact that it’s confusing to the reader . This is a style of writing that has been recognized and analyzed by critics . Julia Alvarez is a well- known writer and in a way , mirrors events that happened in her own life , in her book . Looking into her life , it show’s that she went through an experience somewhat like the sisters . I interviewed an immigrant , not from the
In Julia Alvarez’s short story, “Snow,” an immigrant student, named Yolanda is learning the American way of doing things. She learns that there is ugly and hatful war going on in the world around her. Sister Zoe, Yolanda’s catholic school teacher, explains to her and her classmates what a bomb is; a mushroom shaped explosion with white specks of dust filling the air. However, when Yolanda sees actual winter snow for the first time, she confuses this snow as bomb dust. After Sister Zoe explains that
about getting attacked, and a tense feeling lingers as the days become colder. One day you see dusty fallout alerting you of the attack. You scream and hide just to realize it's not fallout. It's snowing. This was what happened in the story “Snow” by Julia Alvarez, where a young girl moves to America during the Cold War. Throughout the story, the tone shifts drastically as we see Yolanda experiencing the fear that was apparent during that time. After reading through the passage it is clear that that