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Universal Themes:
Assimilation- "It's possible that Mami had her own little revolution brewing...Recently,
she had begun spreading her wings, taking adult courses in real estate management and international economics and buisness
management, dreaming of a bigger-than-family-size life for herself. She still did lip service to the old ways, while
herself nibbling away at forbidden fruit"(116).
After the family moves to New York City, each member adjusts to American culture differently. Mami begins
to assimilate into her new culture by embracing the rights and privileges women are given in America. Yet she is still reluctant
to give voice to her new identity and give up her traditional values.
Bridging Cultural Identites- "She tries to laught, but instead of laughter, she
feels ticklish wings unfolding like a fan at the back of the throat. They spread her mouth open as if she were screaming a
name out over a great distance. A huge blackbird springs out... Out it flies, delighting in its new-found freedom..."(83-4).
Yolanda's cultural confusion and identity struggle, represented by Alvarez's use of magical realism, serves
to bridge the gap between Dominican and American cultures. We have all felt "other" and stuggled with issues of identity and
displacement. By placing the reader in a similar state of confusion and disjunction, Alvarez is able to impart a truer and
deeper understanding of what it is to struggle against yourself, in culture and identity.
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"The world is sweetly new and just created."
Cultural Themes:
Machismo- "When he's in the States, where he went to prep school and is now in college,
he's one of us, our buddy. But back on the island he struts and turns macho, needling us with the unfair advantage of being
male here gives him"(127).
In a patriarchal society like the Dominican Republic in the 1960's, machismo is a dominate cultural
issue. Even though the girls are living in a time of social and gender revolution, in the Dominican Republic and
in America, during the 1960's and 1970's, they are still faced with many issues of gender bias. In New York, the women are
allowed great freedom of choice and opinion. However, when they return to the island, they are again relegated to second class
citizens. The women must endure this treatment from friends and boyfriends alike. Manuel is the stereotypical macho male when
he is on the island and holds a position of power. But, when he's in New York he is forced to assimilate to American culture
during the 1960's sexual revolution and give up his chauvenistic attitudes.
Dominican Identity- "'You know,' he said, 'I thought you'd be hot-blooded, being
Spainish and all, and that under all the Catholic bullshit, you'd be really free, instead of all hung up like these cotillion
chicks from prep schools...' I saw what a cold, lonely life awaited me in this country. I would never
find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles"(99).
Yolanda struggles with her particular cultural identity because it is so different from what other cultures
experience. She was raised Catholic in the Dominican Republic and became an agnostic American woman in New York. These cultures
clash to create a feeling of being outside the American cultural norms. Yolanda should be sexy, free, wild and "other" because
she is a Dominican woman living in New York in the 1960's. But her cultural background forces her to struggle with her
cultural identity as a Dominican-American.
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