The Construction of Hybrid Identity in Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

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Resti Siti Nurlaila, 2014

The Construction of Hybrid Identity in

Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Univeristas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

The Construction of Hybrid Identity in

Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

A Research Paper

Submitted to the English Education Department of the Faculty of Languages and Arts Education of the Indonesia University of Education

as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Sarjana Sastra Degree

By:

Resti Siti Nurlaila 0902602

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND FINE ART EDUCATION INDONESIA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

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The Construction of Hybrid Identity in

Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Oleh

Resti Siti Nurlaila

Sebuah skripsi yang diajukan untuk memenuhi salah satu syarat memperoleh gelar Sarjana pada Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni

Resti Siti Nurlaila 2014 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia

Juli 2014

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Skripsi ini tidak boleh diperbanyak seluruhnya atau sebagian

dengan dicetak ulang, difoto kopi, atau cara lainnya tanpa ijin dari penulis

RESTI SITI NURLAILA

THE CONSTRUCTION OF HYBRID IDENTITY IN

JULIA ALVAREZ’S HOW THE GARCIA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS

APPROVED BY:

Main Supervisor

Dr. Bachrudin Musthafa, M.A.

NIP. 195703101987031001

Co-Supervisor

Budi Hermawan, S.Pd., M.PC.

NIP. 19730872002121002

Head of English Education Department

Faculty of Language and Arts Education

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Prof. Dr. Didi Suherdi, M.Ed

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ABSTRACT

This research investigates the issue of hybrid identity in Julia Alvarez’s novel How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents (1991). The aim of the research is to identify the ways of hybrid identities of main characters are constructed in the novel and to

observe how the main characters manifest their hybrid identities. The research employs the descriptive qualitative method in which the writer describes, interprets and analyzes the text to answer the research question. The concept of hybridity proposed by Homi Bhabha (1994) is used as the theoretical framework to analyze the data. Based on the data analysis, this research finds that hybrid identities of the main characters, the Garcia sisters, are constructed in an-in between space which is categorized into in-between past and present, and in-between Dominican and American cultures. Moreover, the research also finds that the Garcia sisters manifest their hybrid identity in three ways: adopting the American life, embracing American values and preserving Dominican cultures.

Keywords: culture, immigrants, hybridity, hybrid identity, postcolonial criticism.

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ABSTRAK

Penelitian ini meneliti tentang isu identitas hibrid dalam sebuah novel karya Julia Alvarez yang berjudul How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents (1991). Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana identitas hybrid yang dimiliki oleh karakter utama dalam novel tersebut dikonstruksi, dan bagaimana karakter utama menunjukkan identitas hybrid mereka. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif dimana penulis menjelaskan, menginterpretasikan dan menganalisa teks untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian. Konsep hibriditas oleh Homi Bhabha (1994) digunakan sebagai kerangka teori untuk menganalisa data. Berdasarkan analisis data, penelitian ini menemukan bahwa identitas hibrid para karakter utama, Garcia bersaudara, dikonstruksi dalam sebuah ruang in-between atau in-between space, yang kemudian dibagi menjadi in-between masa lalu dan masa sekarang (past and present), dan in-between budaya Amerika dan Dominika. Penelitian ini juga menemukan bahwa para karakter utama menunjukkan identitas hibrid mereka dengan tiga cara yaitu dengan mengadopsi kehidupan Amerika, memeluk nilai-nilai Amerika dan

mempertahankan budaya Dominika.

Kata kunci: budaya, imigran, hibriditas, identitas hibrid, postcolonial criticism.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page of Approval………i

Statement of Authorization………...………ii

Preface………..…………..iii

Acknowledgements……….……...iv

Abstract……….…...vi

Table of Contents……….……….vii

List of Tables……….x

List of Appendices……….xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1Background………..1

1.2Research Questions………..…...3

1.3Aims of the Research………...…...3

1.4Scope of the Research………..……...3

1.5Research Methodology………...4

1.6Data Collection………...4

1.7Data Analysis………...4

1.8Clarification of Terms………...5

1.9Organization of the Paper………...6

CHAPTER 2

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2.1 Postcolonial Criticism………...…….7

2.2 Hybridity………...9

2.3 Hybrid Identity………..…....11

2.4 Mimicry………...13

2.5 General Assumptions of American Cultures……….14

2.6 General Assumptions of Dominican Cultures………...16

2.7 Character and Characterization………..……18

2.8 Synopsis of the Novel……….…...21

2.9 Previous Studies………...22

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Questions……….……..24

3.2 Research Design………....24

3.3 Research Subject and Context………...25

3.4 Research Procedure………...25

3.5 Data Collection………..……....25

3.5 Data Analysis……….26

3.6 Data Presentation………..….27

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1Findings………...35

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4.1.1.1In-between Past and Present……….………...36

4.1.1.2In-between Dominican and American Cultures………….……….40

4.1.2 The Main Characters’ Ways in Manifesting Their Hybrid Identities…...47

4.1.2.1Adopting American Life……….………..………..47

4.1.2.2Embracing American Values……….…….50

4.1.2.3Preserving Dominican Cultures………...………...53

4.2Discussions……….………..56

4.2.1Hybrid Identity Construction in Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents……….……….56

4.2.2 The Main Characters’ Ways in Manifesting Their Hybrid Identities…...61

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusions………...………..65

5.2 Suggestions……….………68

References………...69

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the introduction of the research. It consists of the background of

the study, research question, aims of the study, scope of the study, methodology of

the study, clarification of terms and organization of the paper.

1.1Background

Hybridity, recognized as a key concept in post-colonial studies, is commonly

defined as “the creation of new trans-cultural forms within the contact zones

produced by the colonization” (Aschroft, Griffith and Tiffin, 2007, p. 108). It is considered as the product of oppression, and often associated with the interaction

between Colonized and Colonizer. Homi Bhabha (1994, as cited in Meredith, 1998,

p. 2) developed this term from literary and cultural theory to describe “the construction of culture and identity within the conditions of colonial antagonism and

inequity”. At its simplest, hybridity refers to cultural intermixture. It is an encounter

where the cultures of the Other (colonized) and Self (colonizer), local and global, or

Eastern and Western meet (Ang, 2003, p. 8). According to Barry (1995, p. 198), the

term hybridity is used to describe “the situation whereby individuals or groups belong to more than one culture”.

An example of group which belongs to more than one culture is a group of

immigrant. According to Park (1982, as cited in Weiner and Richards, p. 103),

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migrant communities, the notion of hybridity possibly exists because immigrants

experience two cultures between their origin and host cultures. They negotiate the

boundaries between two different cultures, adapting the host culture while

simultaneously desiring to maintain their origin culture. As a result of experiencing

two cultures, immigrants’ identities gradually become hybrid.

The term hybrid identity is used to emphasize “the emergence of new forms of identity” (Golchin, 2011, p. 6). Hybrid identity may refer to the mixture of more than one identity that is positioned within an intercultural space –a space where in-betweeness and liminality exist. Smith (2008) suggests that hybrid identity cannot be

constructed independently; however, it emerged from the unification of cultural

elements. In line with this, Barker (2004) says that hybrid identity is the production of

cultural exchanges. Besides, the formation of hybrid identity is often associated with

the relationship between past and present. According to Weiner and Richard (2008),

hybrid identity, which is experienced by immigrants, is shaped by their old cultures

and their present experiences in their new homeland.

Many studies have been conducted to investigate the issue of hybridity and

hybrid identity. The track of hybrid identity can be found in literary works, such as

film (Pascual, 2002), story cycle (Lambert, 2007) and novel (Michael, 2011; Obourn,

2008; Shields, 2007). The main characters occupy hybrid identity because they

negotiate multiple cultures, or they already have a hybrid identity from birth (Pascual,

2002; Shields, 2007). Obourn (2008) finds that hybrid identity is resulted from love

relationship between two people who come from opposite nations and cultures.

Meanwhile, Lambert (2004) finds that the place where the main character lived in,

affects his identity to become hybrid or double. The place itself is a hybrid space

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identity is often represented as the effect of ethnic and national cross-over, and the

result of cultural clashing (Lambert, 2007).

This present research aims to investigate the issue of hybrid identity in the

novel by Julia Alvarez entitled How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents (1991).

Written by a Dominican-American writer, this novel portrays the life of four Garcia

sisters who migrate from Dominican Republic to the United States with their parents.

As immigrants who live between Dominican and American cultures, the identities of

the Garcia sisters become hybrid. Thus, by applying Bhabha’s concept of hybridity

(1994), this research attempts to uncover the issue of hybrid identity of the main

characters in the novel.

1.2Research Question

The research is geared towards answering the following questions:

1. In what ways are hybrid identities of the main characters constructed as

evidenced in the novel?

2. How do the main characters manifest their hybrid identities?

1.3Aims of the Study

This research is aimed:

1. To identify the ways hybrid identities of main characters are constructed

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2. To observe how the main characters manifest their hybrid identities.

1.4Scope of the Study

The research is limited only to investigate how hybrid identities of the main

characters are constructed in the novel and how they manifest their hybrid identities.

1.5Research Methodology

The research applies a descriptive qualitative method in the form of textual

analysis. According to Gay, Mills and Airasian (2006, p. 46), qualitative research

“relies on the view of participants; ask broads, general questions; collects data consisting largely of words (or text) from participants; describes and analyzes these

words for themes.” Qualitative researches focuses on analyzing words or pictures

rather than numbers or using statistic in order to depict central phenomenon under

study (Gay, Mill and Airasian, 2006).

1.6Data Collection

The data of the research are critically selected from a novel entitled How the

Garcia Girls Lost their Accents written by Julia Alvarez (1991). The collected data

are in the forms of utterances, actions, thoughts and attitudes of the main characters

which serve as the textual evidence that will answer the research questions.

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The collected data are analyzed by using Bhabha’s concept of hybridity (1994). The data are then categorized into between past and present and

in-between Dominican and American cultures and languages. The data also categorized

into the main characters’ ways in manifesting their hybrid identities which are

adopting American life, embracing American values and preserving Dominican

cultures. In conducting the research, the following steps have been taken:

Reading the novel closely to obtain comprehensive understanding of the

related issues being examined.

Collecting the textual data.

Analyzing the data.

Interpreting the data.

Making conclusion based on the findings.

1.8Clarification of Terms

To avoid misunderstanding, there are some significant terms that have to be

clarified here:

1. Postcolonial criticism : A type of cultural criticism that usually

involves the analysis of literary texts produced in the countries and

cultures that have come under control of European colonial powers, or it

can refer to the analysis of texts written about colonized places by writers

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2. Culture : Culture refers to the beliefs, language, values, norms

and customs that people have to establish the way of life (Browne, 2008).

3. Immigrants : A group or individuals who left their homes to

settle in new countries.

4. Hybridity : The assimilation of different cultural elements which

create new meaning and identities.

5. Hybrid Identity : The double or mixed identities which is resulted from

the interaction between two cultures.

1.9Organization of the Paper

This research will consist of five chapters. It will be organized as follows:

CHAPTER I

This chapter will focus on introduction of the research including the

background of the research, research questions, aims of the study, the scope of

the study, methodology of the study and the organization of the paper.

CHAPTER II

The second chapter will discuss the theoretical frameworks and the literature

reviews as the foundation of the research.

CHAPTER III

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In the third chapter, the discussion will revolve around the research

methodology describing the steps and procedures of the research as well as

the data resources in conducting the research.

CHAPTER IV

The fourth chapter will present the findings and discussion of the research. It

will be the part where the discussion of the research is elaborated.

CHAPTER V

As the last chapter, this section will be the conclusion of the research and the

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter explains the methodological aspect of the research. It consists of research question, research design, research subject and context, research procedures, data collection, data analysis and data presentation.

3.1Research Question

The research is geared towards answering the following questions:

1. In what ways are hybrid identities of the main characters constructed as evidenced in the novel? 2. How do the main characters manifest their hybrid identities?

3.2Research Design

This present research employs a descriptive qualitative method to achieve the aims of the study. This method has been chosen because the data for this research are in the form of words rather than numbers. As Maxwell (1996) states, the

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Univeristas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 25

method aims to explore and understanding the meaning of social phenomena by developing the theoretical lens. More explain, Maxwell (1996) describes the purpose of qualitative research is to discover the meaning of the events or situations; to understand the particular context; to understand the process by which the events take place; to identify unexpected phenomena and generate new “grounded” theories; and to develop causal explanation.

3.3Research Subject and Context

The subject of this research is a novel entitled How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. The novel, which consists of 307 pages, is the first novel of a Dominican-American writer, Julia Alvarez. It was firstly published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 1991. The novel is divided into three chapters in which each chapter consists of five sub-chapters.

This research is aimed to figure out how hybrid identities of the main characters are constructed in the novel and how the main characters manifest their hybrid identity. The focus of this research is the main characters (Garcia sisters) named Carla, Sandi, Yolanda and Sofia who undergo hybrid identities as the impact of their migration from Dominican Republic to the United States. Further, the research is framed by concept of hybridity as proposed by Bhabha (1994).

3.4Research Procedure

The research is generally aimed to investigate the issue of hybrid identity in the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) by Julia Alvarez. To do that, the novel is analyzed using the concept of hybridity proposed by Homi

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3.5Data Collection

The data in this research were collected from the novel entitled How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) by Julia Alvarez. The collected data are in the form of utterances, actions, thoughts and attitudes of the main characters (the Garcia Sisters), which are critically selected and analyzed as the textual evidence to answer the research questions.

3.6Data Analysis

The collected data were analyzed using the framework of hybridity as proposed by Homi Bhabha (1994). In conducting the research, the following steps have been taken:

1. Reading thoroughly and repeatedly to achieve comprehensive understanding of the novel.

2. Finding and collecting the textual evidence from the novel How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents containing

the issue of hybrid identity.

3. Analyzing the collected data by addressing the concept of hybridity proposed by Homi Bhabha (1994).

4. Interpreting the data

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3.7Data Presentation

The following tables are the samples of the analyzed data which reveal the hybrid identity construction and the characters‟ ways in manifesting their hybrid identity.

TABLE 1

Hybrid Identities Construction of the Main Characters

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Univeristas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu No Main

Characters

Chapter/Page Textual Evidence Comments

1 Carla Trespass/ 151 Carla thought yearningly of the lush grasses and thick-limbed, vine ladened trees around the compound back home. Under the amapola tree

her best-friend cousin, Lucinda, and she had told each other what each

knew about how babies were made. What is Lucinda doing right this moment? Carla wondered.

The moment when Carla recalled her memories shows that she could not forget her old home in Dominican Republic even though she now lives in the United States. This indicates that Carla is

trapped between her past memories and her precisely this kind of attention paid to them. At home there had always been a chauffeur opening

car door or a gardener tipping

his hat and a half dozen maids

Sandi is trapped in her past memories that appear in her present life in United States. The passage

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and nursemaids acting as if the

health and well-being of the de la

Torre-Garcia Children were of

wide public concern.

3 Yolanda The Drum/ 290

There are still times I wake up at three o‟clock in the morning and peer into the darkness. At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear

her, a black furred thing lurking

in the corners of my life, her

magenta mouth opening, wailing

over some violation that lies at

the center of my art.

Yolanda‟s hallucination about the Mother Cat symbolizes a connection with her childhood in

Dominican Republic. It indicates that Yolanda could not overlook her past life, even though she

already left the Island many years ago. This may shows that Yolanda is also trapped between the memories of her past life and her present life.

2. In-between Dominican and American

No Main Characters

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Univeristas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu 1 Sandi The Floor

Show/ 181

As Mrs. Fanning turned to follow, she leaned towards Sandi‟s father and brushed her lips on his. Sandi didn‟t know whether to stand there foolishly or dash in and let the door

fall on this uncomfortable moment… Relieved, she now felt the full and shocking weight of

what she had just witnessed. A

married American woman

kissing her father!”

At the early years of migration, Sandi and her family had dinner with the Fannings in a Spanish restaurant. During those years, Sandi was not

used to American life and cultures. Sandi feels uncanny as she witnessed Mrs. Fanning, who

was drunk, suddenly kissed her father. In Dominican Republic, it is unconscionable for married woman to have an affair, or to do such an inappropriate action toward another man. Sandi‟s surprised feeling indicates that Sandi is in-between her old and new cultures: Dominican and American.

2 Yolanda The Four Girls / 48

“The lover knew Yolanda would not have wanted him to know about this indelicacy of her body. She did not even like to pluck her eyebrows in his presence. An immediate bathrobe after her bath. Lights out

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when they made love. Other times, she carried on about the Great Mother and the holiness of the body

and sexual energy being eternal delight. Sometimes, he

complained he felt caught

between the woman’s libber and the Catholic señorita. “You sound

like my ex,” she accused him.” (p. 48)

immediate bathrobe after bath. In Dominican Republic, women must protect their bodies like hidden treasure. This shows that Yolanda is

trapped between American and Dominican religious cultural practices. have better things to do.” He tosses the book on the coffee table.

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love. “You have no right to tell

me what I can and can’t do!” “¡Que no¡” Manuel challenges.

“No! “Fifi asserts.

One by one we three sisters exit,

cheering Fifi on under our breaths. A few minutes later we hear the pickup roar down the driveway, and Fifi comes sobbing into the

But within the hour, Fifi is on the

phone with Manuelito, pleading

for forgiveness.”

freedom to do what she wants. However, Dominican Republic exhibits a strong, male oriented-culture much of which was inherited

from Spanish colonialist. It means that women in Dominican Republic are expected to obey their

fathers or husbands. The fact that Sofia pleads for Manuel forgiveness shows that she felt wronged about her resistance; she thought that as a Dominican women she should obey what Manuel says. This indicates that Sofia is trapped between the American culture and Dominican machismo culture.

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The Characters’ Ways in Manifesting Their Hybrid Identities

everywhere to dance weekends and

football weekends and snow

identities in three ways: adopting American life, embracing American values and preserving

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or smoke freely like in the United States her head at mere thought.

“This is not the States,” Tia Flor Dominican Republic. At that time in Dominican Republic, woman does not travel alone.

However, the fact that Yolanda wants to pick guavas alone in Dominican Republic shows that

Yolanda ignores the Dominican cultures and develops the American value which is being an

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for the night. The large crucifix

had been a “security blanket” I

took to bed with me after years

coming to this country. (Yolanda)

Dominican woman which is traditional, passive and obedient. This passage shows that even though Yolanda already left Dominican

Republic for many years, Yolanda still maintains her religious Dominican cultures by keeping the

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[Type text]

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This chapter elaborates conclusions of the research, which refer to findings and discussion in the previous chapter. In addition, this chapter also provides suggestion for those who may want to investigate related issue.

5.1 Conclusions

The research has investigated the issue of hybrid identity in Julia Alvarez’s novel entitled How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents (1991). Based on the data analysis, the hybrid identity of the main characters, the Garcia sisters, is constructed in, to use Bhabha’s terms the ‘Third Space’, or the space of in-betweeness. The in-between space occupied by the Garcia sisters is categorized into between past and present, and in-between Dominican and American cultures. As the result of living in-between two different countries and cultural traditions, the sisters embody both identities as Dominican and American.

The Garcia sisters, except the youngest sister Sofia, are caught between Dominican past and the United States present. The Garcia sisters’ in-between past and present is represented in the form of memories, and for Yolanda also the hallucination. The memories and hallucination that emerge and disrupt the sisters’ present life appear mostly during the early years of their migration to the United States. The memories of the Island symbolize the sisters’ yearning towards their old home, the Dominican Republic. Along with the hallucination, the memories also portray the trauma that the

sisters had back in the Dominican Republic.

The memories and hallucination indicate that the Garcia sisters could not forget

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[Type text]

past becomes inseparable part of the Garcia sisters’ life; part of them embodies Dominican identity and another part embodies American identity. However, unlike the three sisters, Sofia is the one who does not experience the in-between past and present due to the very short time she spent in Dominican Republic. Due to her lacks of memories of the Island, Sofia is considered as the most rebellious and Americanized among the sisters. Sofia mostly spent her childhood, hit the puberty, and grew up in the United States, so that she was more accustomed to American life than Dominican life.

The Garcia sisters are also caught between Dominican and American cultures.

This in-betweeness is resulted from their migration, from living in two different countries: the Dominican Republic and the United States. The sisters’ migration forces them to experience Dominican and American life, and both its cultures. The space of in-betweeness that is occupied by the Garcia sisters constructs their doubled, hybrid identity as Dominican-American. The in-betweeness also leads the sisters to the feeling of displacement, linguistic and cultural inadequacy, and the sense of ‘unhomely. The term ‘unhomely’ is used to refer to the situation when immigrants feel ‘out of place’. In the novel, ‘unhomely’ is especially experienced by Yolanda who is the most emphasized character in the novel. The in-betweeness makes Yolanda feels that she belongs to either the Dominican Republic or the United States and neither of them.

Furthermore, it can be concluded that the Garcia sisters manifest their identity in three ways which are categorized into adopting American life, embracing American values and preserving Dominican cultures. They struggle to become the part of American society and to be the typical Americans by adopting American life, while at the same time they are not rejecting the Dominican cultural traditions and heritage.

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[Type text]

fact that Garcia sisters adopt American life and embrace American values also symbolizes that the sisters undergo the process of mimicry. However, the sisters’ mimicry towards American life and cultures is ‘almost the same, but not quite’. It means that they cannot perfectly mimic the American life, because the sisters still perceive some of Dominican cultural traditions.

Besides adopting American life and embracing American values, the Garcia sisters also manifest their hybrid identity by preserving their origin homeland cultures, Dominican cultures. The sisters are not rejecting the Dominican heritage and still retain

the Dominican cultural traditions. They perceive the Dominican cultures although they admitted that they are more than adjusted into American life and they had been pretty well Americanized.

Hybrid identity that is experienced by the sisters leads them to encounter a conflicted, complicated feeling. They desire to be fully accepted into American society by adopting American life, however, they still retain their Dominican cultural traditions. The sister cannot simply disregard their old home because there are memories, family and friends in Dominican Republic. The sisters will always be a divided self; they existed in a limbo with hybrid identity. They may lose the Dominican accents, like the title of the novel, but they cannot completely ignore their Dominican past, their old home.

5.2 Suggestions

The present research chose to investigate the issue of hybrid identity of the main

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[Type text]

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APPENDICES

1. Hybrid Identities Construction of the Main Characters

In -between Past and Present

No Main

Characters

Chapter/ Page Textual Evidence

1 Carla The Four Girls/

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The mother still calls them the four girls even though the youngest is twenty-six and the oldest will be thirty-one next month. She has always called them the four girls for as long as they can remember, and the oldest

remembers all the way back to the day the fourth girl was born. Before

that, the mother must have called them the three girls, and before that

the two girls, but not even the oldest, who was once the only girl,

remembers the mother calling them anything but the four girls.

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that had to be kept clean than yards to play in. The trees were no taller than little Fifi. Carla thought yearningly of the lush grasses and thick-limbed, vine-ladened trees around the compound back home. Under the

amapola tree her best-friend cousin, Lucinda, and she had told each

other what each knew about how babies were made. What is Lucinda

doing right this moment? Carla wondered.‖

Trespass/ 154-155 Sometimes Carla spied them in the playground, looking through the chain link fence and talking about the cars parked on the sidewalk… All she knew of their family car, for instance, was that it was a big black car where all four sisters could ride in the back, though Fifi always made a fuss and was allowed up front. Carla could also identify Volkswagens because that had been the car (in black) of the secret police back home; every time Mami

saw one she made the sign of the cross and said a prayer for Tío Mundo,

who had not been allowed to leave the Island.

Trespass / 158 Her mother called the police after piecing together the breathless, frantic

story Carla told… Carla and her sisters feared the American police almost as much as SIM back home. Their father, too, seemed uneasy

around policemen… Back home, he had been tailed by the secret police for months and the family had only narrowly escaped capture their last

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guys‖, but still she felt uneasy around them.

2 Sandi Floor Show/ 174 Sandi realized with a pang one of the things that had been missing in the last few months. It was precisely this kind of special attention paid to them. At home there had always been a chauffeur opening a car door or a gardener tipping his hat and a half dozen maids and nursemaids acting if the health and well-being of the de la Torre-Garcia children were of wide public concern.

Floor Show/ 175 Around the occupied tables handsome waiters gathered, their black hair

slicked back into bullfighters’ little ponytails. They wore cummerbunds and

white shirt with ruffles on the chest – beautiful men like the one Sandi would someday marry. Best of all were the rich, familiar smells of garlic and onion and lilting cadence of Spanish spoken by the dark-eye waiters,

who reminded Sandi of her uncles.

Floor Show/ 176-177

Sandi remembered when the famous Doctor Fanning and his wife had

come down to instruct the country‟s leading doctors on new procedures

for heart surgery. The tall, slender man and his goofy wife had been

guests in the family compound. There had been many barbecues with the driveway lined with cars and a troop of chauffeurs under the palm trees exchanging news and gossip.

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here.‖ Sandi turned to see the maître d’ heading in their direction with a tall,

dressed-up woman, and behind her, a towering, preoccupied-looking man. It took a moment to register that these were the same human beings who

had loitered around the pool back on the Island, looking silly in

sunglasses and sunhats, noses smeared with suntan cream, and speaking

a grossly inadequate Spanish to the maids.

Floor Show/ 178 Sandi studied the woman carefully. Why had Dr. Fanning, who was tall and somewhat handsome, married this plain, bucktoothed woman? Maybe she came from a good family, which back home was the reason men married

plain, bucktoothed women. Maybe Mrs. Fanning came with all the jewelry she had on, and Dr. Fanning had been attracted by its glittering the way little fishes are if you wrap tinfoil on a string and dangle it in the shallows.

3 Yolanda Joe/ 69 She recognizes the unmistakable signs of a flashback: a woman at a window, a woman with a past, with memory and desire and wreckage in her heart.

She will let herself have them today. She can’t help herself anyway.

The Human Body/ 225

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name we all envied. Baby sister Fifi and my sweet-natured cousin Carmencita were everyone’s favorites… We were the only boy-girl pair, and

as we grew older, Mami and Mundín’s mother, Tia Carmen, encouraged a separation between us.

The Human Body/ 227

But what did we kids know of all that back in those days? The height of violence for us was on the weekly television Western imported from Hollywood and dubbed clumsily in Spanish. Rin Tin Tin barked in sync, but the cowboys kept talking long after their mouths were closed. When the gun re-ports sounded, the villains already lay in a puddle of blood. Mundín and I craned our necks forward, wanting to make sure that the bad guys were really dead.

The Drum/ 290 Then we moved to the United States. The cat disappeared altogether. I saw snow. I solved the riddle of an outdoors made mostly of concrete in New

York… I grew up, a curious woman, a woman of story ghosts and story

devils, a woman prone to bad dreams and bad insomnia. There are still

times I wake up at three o‟clock in the morning and peer into the

darkness. At that hour and in that loneliness, I hear her, a black furred

thing lurking in the corners of my life, her magenta mouth opening,

wailing over some violation that lies at the center of my art.

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Conquistadores/ 217 and 219

Island because I‟m the youngest and so the other three are always telling

me what happened that last day… But here’s what I do remember of my

lasy day on the Island. Chucha came into our bedrooms with this bundle in

her hands… Chucha started to unravel her bundle, and we all guessed she

was about to do a little farewell voodoo on us.

In-between Dominican and American

No Main

Characters

Chapter/ Page Textual Evidence

1 Carla Trespass/ 151 Grasses and real trees and real bushes still grew beyond the barbed-wire fence posted with a big sign: PRIVATE, NO TREPASSING. The sign had

surprised Carla since „forgive us our trespasses” was the only other

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Mami on one of their first walks to the bus stop. ―Isn’t that funny, Mami? A sign that you have to be good.‖ Her mother did not understand at first until

Carla explained about the Lord’s Prayer. Mami laughed. Words sometimes

meant two things in English too. This trespass meant that no one must go inside the property because it was not public like a park, but private.

Carla nodded, disappointed. She would never get the hang of this new

country.

2 Sandi Floor Show/ 181 As Mrs. Fanning turned to follow, she leaned towards Sandi’s father and

brushed her lips on his. Sandi didn’t know whether to stand there foolishly or

dash in and let the door fall on this uncomfortable moment… Relieved, she now felt the full and shocking weight of what she had just witnessed. A

married American woman kissing her father!

Floor Show/ 173 If things ever get that bad, Sandi thought, she would sell her charm bracelet with the windmill that always got caught on her clothing. She would even cut her hair and sell it—a maid back home had told her that girls with

good hair could always do that. She had no idea who would buy it. She

had not seen hair for sale in the big department stores Mami sometimes

took them through on outings “to see this new country.”

3 Yolanda Antojos/ 7 In halting Spanish, Yolanda reports on her sisters. When she reverts to

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sooner she‟ll be back into her native tongue, the aunts insist. Yes, and

when she returns to the States, she’ll find herself suddenly going blank over

some word in English or, like her mother, mixing up some common phrase.

This time, however, Yolanda is not so sure she’ll be going back. But that is a

secret.

Antojos/ 13 The radio is all static—like the sound of the crunching metal of a car; the faint, blurry voice on the airwaves her own, trapped inside a wreck, calling for help. In English or Spanish? she wonders. That poet she met at

Lucinda’s party the night before argued that no matter how much of it one

lost, in the midst of some profound emotion, one would revert to one’s

mother tongue. He put Yolanda through a series of situations. What language, he asked, looking pointedly into her eyes, did she love in?

The Four Girls/ 48

The lover knew Yolanda would not have wanted him to know about this indelicacy of her body. She did not even like to pluck her eyebrows in his presence. An immediate bathrobe after her bath. Lights out when they made love. Other times, she carried on about the Great Mother and the holiness of the body and sexual energy being eternal delight.Sometimes, he complained

he felt caught between the woman’s libber and the Catholic señorita. ―You sound like my ex,‖ she accused him.

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She is determined to get over this allergy. She will build immunity to the

offending words. She braces herself for a double dose: “Love, love,” she

says the words quickly. Her face is one itchy valentine. “Amor.” Even in

Spanish, the word makes a rash erupt on the backs of her hands.

The Rudy

Elmenhurst Story/ 87

I’d meet someone, conversation would flow, they’d come calling, but pretty

soon afterwards, just as my heart was beginning to throw out little tendrils of

attachment, they’d leave. I couldn’t keep them interested. Why I couldn‟t keep them interested was pretty simple: I wouldn‟t sleep with them. By

the time I went to college, it was the late sixties, and everyone was

sleeping around as a matter of principle. By then, I was a lapsed

Catholic; my sisters and I had been pretty well Americanized since our

arrival in this country a decade before, so really, I didn‟t have a good

excuse.

The Rudy

It was the first pornographic poem I‟d ever co-written; of course I

didn‟t know it was pornographic until Rudy explained to me all the

word plays and double meanings. ―The coming of the spring upon the

boughs,‖ was the last line. That meant spring was ejaculating green leaves on the trees; the new crocuses were standing stiff on the lawn on account of they were turned on. I was shocked by all of this. I was a virgin; I wasn‟t

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this into a poem, a place I’d reserved for deep feelings and lofty sentiments!

The Rudy

It was a decadent atmosphere for me whose previous experience of dating had been mixers and parlor calls from boys at prep school. I‟d go over to

Rudy‟s, but I would drink only a sip or two of the Dixie cup he offered,

and I wouldn‟t dare touch the drugs. I was less afraid of what they

would do to my mind than I was of what Rudy might do to my body

while I was under the influence.

The Rudy

On the cinderblock wall opposite the bed, Rudy had put up a bulletin board. There were pennants from his ski teams and photos of his family, all lined up on skis on top of a mountain. His parents looked so young and casual— like classmates. My own old world parents were still an embarrassment

at parents‟ weekend, my father with his thick mustache and three-piece

suit and fedora hat, my mother in one of her outfits she bought

especially to visit us at school, everything overly matched, patent leather

purse and pumps that would go back, once she was home, to plastic

storage bags in her closet. I marveled at his youthful parents.

The Rudy

But he didn’t slip into my room and under my sheets and hold me tight

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and American styles.

4 Sofia A Regular

Revolution/ 120-121

This,‖ Manuel Gustavo says, holding the book up like a dirty diaper, ―is junk in your head. You have better things to do.‖ He tosses the book on the coffee

table.

Fifi pales, though her two blushed-on cheeks blush on. She stands quickly, hands on her hips, eyes narrowing, the Fifi we know and love. “You have no

right to tell me what I can and can‟t do!” “¡Que no¡” Manuel challenges.

“No! “Fifi asserts.

One by one we three sisters exit, cheering Fifi on under our breaths. A few minutes later we hear the pickup roar down the driveway, and Fifi comes sobbing into the bedroom.

―Fifi, he asked for it,‖ we say. ―Don’t let him push you around. You’re a free spirit,‖ we remind her.

But within the hour, Fifi is on the phone with Manuelito, pleading for

forgiveness.

A Regular Revolution/ 123 and 125

Fifi and Manuel steal off for some private time from the watchful eyes on the extended family. On these drives, they usually end up parking somewhere,

only to neck and stuff, according to Fifi… As we’re backing out of our

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―Hey!‖ Yoyo cries out. ―Is that Fifi and Manuel?‖ Mundín chuckles. ―Hey, hey! Way to go.‖

―Way to go, way to schmo,‖ Sandi snaps. ―That’s our baby sister going in there with a guy who thinks condoms cause impotence.‖

5 Carla, Sandi, Yolanda and Sofia

A Regular Revolution/ 113-114

We spent the rest of the evening confessing to our giggly, over-chaperoned girl cousins the naughtinesses we had committed up in the home of the brave and the land of the free.

A Regular Revolution/ 119

He looks like a handsome young double for Papi, and a lot like us, the family eyebrows, the same high cheekbones, the full, generous mouth. In short, he could be the brother we never had. When he roars into the compound in his pickup, all four of us run down the driveway to greet him with kisses

and hugs.

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2. The Characters‟ Ways in Manifesting Hybrid Identity

No The ways of

Carla was on for experimenting with hair removal cream. (Mami threw a fit, saying that once you got started on that road, there was no stopping— the hairs would grow back thicker, uglier each time. She made it sound like drinking or drugs).

Trespass/ 156

Besides, her English was still just classroom English, a foreign language. She knew the neutral bland things: how to ask for a glass of water, how to say good morning and good afternoon and good night. How to thank someone and say they were welcomed.

Sandi A Regular

Revolution/ 103

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Yolanda The Rudy

That night there was a knock on my door. I was in my night-gown already, doing our assignment, a love poem in the form of a sonnet. I‟d

been reading it out loud pretty dramatically, trying to get the accents

right, so I felt embarrassed to be caught.

The Rudy Elmenhurst Story/ 102

There’s more to the story. There always is to a true story. About five

years later, I was in grad school in upstate New York. I was a poet, a bohemian, et cetera. I‟d had a couple of lovers. I was on birth control. I guessed I’d resolved the soul and sin thing by lapsing from my heavy -duty Catholic back-ground, giving up my immortal soul for a blues kind

of soul.‖

The Rudy Elmenhurst Story/ 103

On the counter, he had left behind the bottle of wine. I had one of those unserious, cheap, grad school corkscrews... I put the bottle between my legs and pulled so hard that not only did I jerk the crumbled cork

out but I sprayed myself with ex-pensive Bordeaux. “Shit,” I

thought, “this is not going to wash out.” I held the bottle up to my

mouth and drew a long messy swallow, as if I were some decadent

wild woman who had just dismissed an unsatisfactory lover.

A Regular Revolution/ 110

Yoyo was on for bringing a book into the house, Our Bodies, Our Selves.