How The Garcia Girls Lost their Accents Part 3

Now, we are at the end of the book. In the third section, it takes place when all daughters are young. The whole book is placed in a structure where the whole story goes backwards. In my opinion, I think Julia Alvarez had a strong reason to do this. She probably put the story this way because she wants to show how the girls grew up and what conflicts or things they dealt with while growing up.

I thought that it was interesting in the last vignette how the kitten is put in the story. Somehow the kitten Schwartz is put in there and at first I thought it was just a regular kitten and I was a little bit confused. Then the second time reading it, I had an A-Ha moment! Supposedly, the kitten is supposed to symbolize the daughters but I still am not completely sure what the drum is supposed to represent. Anyway, I believe that the kitten may also represent events that are going to happen or that the kitten represents Yolanda. For instance, Yolanda feels that when the kitten is stuffed in the drum, it relates to the stress she will feel with her family and her culture, Domincan Republic. As a young girl, Yolanda deals with culture in a way adults or young adults would be worried about.

I find it interesting how the last vignette ties everything together and helps us understand everything that happened in the beginning of the book. Even though I still don't like the structure of the book, it is easier to understand once I get to the end of the book.