Lives in Two Languages: An Exploration of Identity and Culture
by Linda Watkins-Goffman
A Reader's Guide
These questions will guide you as you read the novels and excerpts from the novels that appear in Lives in Two Languages.
Questions from the excerpt "I Want to Be Miss America" (pp. 44-49)
- Why was the family so fascinated with "The Miss America Pageant"? How did most people in the United States feel about the pageant in the past, as compared with the present?
- In what way does the author feel American people stereotype Hispanics?
- What did Julia and her sisters do in order to feel they "fit in"?
- What does Julia Alvarez have in common with Richard Rodriguez with regards to perception of physical appearance in this culture?
Questions from the Memoir Something to Declare (1998)
- How has being from the Dominican Republic affected Julia Alvarez as a writer? How did she get to be fluent in English?
- How did Julia feel when she went to the Dominican Republic as a girl and dated the local boys there?
- Why do you think that Julia hid under the bed to avoid going to school when she was a child?
- Which members of her family and intimates have had the most influence on her?
- Why did Julia Alvarez describe herself as "a picky eater"?
- How are gender roles different in the Dominican Republic than they are in this country?
- What have you learned about identity from Julia Alvarez? What does she have in common with Amy Tan?
Many of Julia Alvarez's personal experiences can be found in her fiction; one of her best known is How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent (1992).
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