This is a picture of Yolanda's boyfriend, Rudy Elmenhurst, in college. He had "a scarred, masculine, bad-boy face", "an ironic smile on his lips", and "bedroom eyes". (page 89)I found this chapter very important because it showed one of the daughters, Yolanda, beginning to respond to American culture. However, she still managed to keep some of her culture at this point. She refused to drink more than one or two sips and would not smoke, being afraid of what they would do to her while she was under the influence. In her religion, it would be considered a sin to have sex before marriage, which is why she would always stop Rudy. How do you think this represents a change in her culture? Do you find this important? What other parts show a shift away from their Dominican culture in any of the sisters' lives?
I think this was important because it showed one of the bad choices Yolanda made. Her boyfriend in college fit the stereotype of a hippie and would always invite her to parties in his dorm where she would desrcibe it as smelling of alcohol and weed. She also mentioned that on his bed was an American flag. He tried to talk her into having sex with him, but in the end he turned out to be a jerk.
ReplyDeleteIf her mother knew about this, she would be very upset. She had put her girls into Catholic schools throughout the years so they would avoid peolpe like Rudy Elmenhurst. She also thought her daughters shared the belief in waiting until after you were married to have sex.
The change between her country and the country she is now really changed her ways. I thnk that eventually putting aside her religion for a minute she will lose it BEFORE marriage because even though its not within her culture or religion she may get a little to used to American life.
ReplyDeleteAfter you keep reading more into the story I noticed that my prediction was right, the same way you said he turned out to be a jerk. The way Yolanda makes her choices arent as wise which maybe is something important to take from the book.
This shows that the Garcia Girl's cultures changed greatly in America because they were opened to new traditions. They were not used to most of the things that confronted them, including English, and when they see new traditions, you will not know whether they are right or wrong. Luckly, Yolanda knew that some of those traditions weren't good, and shy told Rudy to back off. Because of that, this shows that some of the cultural diffusion going on in America is a good thing because it teaches the girls responsibility.
ReplyDeleteThis still does change their old traditions though because they did have sexual intercourse at some point of the book, and that is exactly what their parents were against.
Andrew Villa
I think this was important because it showed Yolanda a lesson that not everyone is like her. And if she had listened to him and given her virginity to him, only after a month of dating it would of shown a bad choice she made, and things could of turned out worse. This represents a change in her culture because, she is in college now things are different, and even though she wants to stay in her cultural ways, not everyone will buy it.
ReplyDelete