How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by SparkNotes

Author:SparkNotes [SparkNotes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Trespass

Summary

When the Garcias had been in the United States for one year, Mami made a flan to celebrate. They all closed their eyes to make a wish as Sofia blew out the candle stuck in the middle of the flan. Carla prayed that they could return to the Dominican Republic. She did not like their house and yard on Long Island, and missed her cousins back home in the family compound. There was an empty lot near their house that had a sign against trespassing. Carla did not know that the word meant something different in that context than in the phrase "forgive us our trespasses." Carla had to walk to school by herself, and she learned the route by heart. As she walked, a gang of boys who hurled stones and ethnic slurs harassed her. She felt ashamed of the changes her body was undergoing during puberty, such as growing breasts and leg hair. She feared the pale, bland, and nasty American boys. They would talk about different makes of car, but she could only identify Volkswagens, which were used by the secret police in the Dominican Republic. One day after school a car followed her as she walked home from the bus stop. She could only describe it as a "long-nosed, lime green car." The car stopped and honked, and an American grownup gestured for her to come closer. She had trouble distinguishing between different American grownups, and would only notice their hair or their clothes.

Carla assumed he wanted directions and felt embarrassed that her English was not good enough to be of much help. He smiled at her in a strangely apologetic way before Carla realized with shock that he was naked from the waist down, with a string tied around his erect penis. He asked her to get into the car but she backed away, struck dumb. He masturbated and Carla ran down the street.

Her mother called the police when Carla explained what had happened, but Laura did not understand what it meant to file charges. The police insisted on talking directly to Carla, even though she was afraid of them. She could only say that the man had little hair and was in a green car. The police needed more useful details about the car or the man's appearance, and seemed frustrated with her limited English vocabulary. She was also mortified to have to describe what she had seen him doing, since she did not have the vocabulary in Spanish or English to effectively articulate what she had seen. After noting that he had a string around his thing, the police left. After this incident her mother walked her to and from school, and she later changed schools, but Carla was still haunted by the memory of the boys who taunted her to go back to the Dominican Republic. As she fell asleep, she would pray to return to a place full of those people who knew and loved her.

Analysis

As the oldest daughter, Carla has

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