Introduction
Daughter of Invention by Julia Alvarez describes the lives of the family of Immigrants upon their arrival to the U.S. The story centers on the protagonist’s attempts to write a school speech. The following paper analyzes the main character’s upbringing process to determine its influence on her as a writer.
Upbringing Description
The information about Yolanda’s upbringing can be derived primarily from episodes that describe her family’s attempts to live in the new social environment after their move from the Dominican Republic to America. She is influenced by her father and her mother, who exhibit radically different approaches to upbringing. While it is not immediately apparent, Yolanda’s father tries to hold on to the traditional values characteristic of his native country. These values are based on the familial authority and adherence to the familial, religious, and social norms, as can be seen from her father’s aggressive reaction to the speech prepared for school. It is also notable that in response to his violent outburst, which ends in tearing down of her speech manuscript, the main character calls her father “Chapita” (Alvarez, 1997). This name used to refer to the dictator the protagonist’s father is trying to escape from, indicates Yolanda’s acknowledgment of the oppressive and authoritative stance assumed by one of her parents in her upbringing.
Mother’s Influence
Yolanda’s mother, on the other hand, serves as a disruptive agent in her upbringing, albeit in a somewhat passive way. Following their move to the United States, she is constantly busy drafting multiple household inventions that are intended to provide comfort for their daily routines. However, the preoccupation with this activity prevents her from offering her attention to her daughter, which leads to growing frustration for the latter. The inventions presented by Laura are met with silent disproval and confusion on the main character’s part and eventually become perceived as a barrier to the understanding within the family.
The gap is further aggravated by the fact that Laura openly criticizes Yolanda’s efforts to embrace the American way of life, probably due to her belief that her role as a mother is incompatible with the expectations of their new environment. However, it is worth mentioning that paradoxically, her constant creativity efforts indicate her desperate struggle to fit into the very society she disproves of. In other words, the main character’s mother pushes her towards acceptance of the new values while being vocal in rejecting them, adding to the tension and stress experienced by Yolanda.
From this standpoint, it should be acknowledged that the protagonist’s determination to write a school speech in English can be interpreted as an attempt to acquire a new identity (Coleman, 2016). Since her mother does not give her sufficient attention or support in her endeavor, it is possible to assume that she does not participate in Yolanda’s development as a writer at all. However, as was already mentioned above, Laura’s attempts to invent something that could be used to provide them with solid financial support closely resemble an element of the American identity. From this perspective, it is possible to consider the possibility that observing her mother’s clumsy yet persistent actions served as a driving force that motivated Yolanda to press forward despite the opposition of her authoritative father.
Conclusion
The complicated profile of the main character’s family leads us to a twofold conclusion. At face value, her upbringing contains several characteristics that are counterproductive for her writing effort. However, once we acknowledge that her speech serves as a milestone in her pursuit of the new identity, it becomes apparent that her mother’s actions align with her goals. Therefore, we can say that her inventions influenced her the most as a writer.
References
Alvarez, J. (1997). Daughter of invention. Web.
Coleman, V. (2016). Julia Alvarez & Junot Diaz: The formation of boundaries in creating a new Dominican-American identity. Web.