Julia Alvarez

“Antojos”

Latin American Author

Background

Born in NYC Raised in Dominican Republic until

the age of 10—fled as political refugees

Used writing as a way to find her cultural identity being uprooted so young

Works

Volumes of poetry: Homecoming (1984), The Other Side (1995), and The Woman I Kept to Myself (2004).

Novels: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), ¡Yo! (1997) and In the Name of Salomé (2000).

Her fiction, like her poetry, deals with both the immigrant experience and her own bicultural identity.

“Antojos”

Became the first chapter of How the Garcia Girls lost their Accents

Antojos means “cravings” in Spanish Craving—connotations? Why title it in Spanish and write it in

English?

Setting

A windy country road in the Dominican Republic. It is specific because this is about a journey that the main character takes and her cultural confusion which can only take place outside her home in a place that should be her home.

Yolanda’s journey—like a windy country road

Tone

The tone is elegiac/nostalgic longing for something…maybe a bit illusive and confused

Conflict

Main conflict: internal it is her struggle to find a closer connection with her homeland even though she feels somewhat alienated at times.

Sub-conflicts: Man vs. nature/technology: she

struggles to fix her car and remove herself from danger.

Literary Elements

Flashback: thinking about her home; thinking about her time with her aunts

Foreshadowing: the bumpy road indicates something might happen

Motif: Palmolive Symbolism: guavas==antojos—

possession by an island spirit demanding its due—clue to the conflict

Theme

Values are connected to culture and we need to focus in on the values that we really feel rather than ones we can never attain.

Language is power Life is journey