Julia Alvarez Questions and Answers
Julia Alvarez
How is the author's name important in "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez?
In her essay “Names/Nombres,” Julia Alverez uses her Spanish name as a symbol for her family's “otherness” after they immigrate to America, as well as a symbol for her desire to fit into American...
Julia Alvarez
What is the summary of My English by Julia Alvarez?
Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American writer. She was born on March 27, 1950. Now, she writes about how she learned English. She emphasizes her struggles with English. Julia was born in New York...
Julia Alvarez
What is the theme of "I, Too, Sing América" by Julia Alvarez?
"I, Too, Sing América" by Julia Alvarez is a response to both Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing" and Langston Hughes's "I, Too, Sing America," and it shares their theme of diversity. Whitman's...
Julia Alvarez
What is the tone in “Names/Nombres” and an example from the essay that supports it?
In answering a question about tone, make sure to think about how the author feels about his subject. We can accomplish this task by looking at the word choice, particularly imagery, and then...
Julia Alvarez
1. In "Daughter of Invention" by Julia Alvarez, why does the father give the speaker the gift that he does?2. What is...
The father of Alvarez's "Daughter of Invention" has realized that his behavior the night before was over-reactive and rather cruel. For, as he listened to the daughter read her speech, written...
Julia Alvarez
What are the writer's feelings about how Americans pronounced her and her family's names?
Julia Alvarez opens the essay “Names/Nombres” with a catalogue of mispronunciations, starting with her family’s arrival at Immigration in New York, where the officer addressed her father as “Mister...
Julia Alvarez
What is the central theme of Julia Alverez's poem, "The Dusting?"
This poem concerns a young girl’s early attempts at self-definition. Her perpetual scribbling is, in essence, an insistent yearning to remember her inner self and to remain true to her dreams. She...
Julia Alvarez
How does culture influence Julia Alvarez's writing as a whole?
Novelist, poet, and essayist Julia Alvarez writes complex examinations of the multicultural Latin American experience by employing her Dominican heritage and melding it with her American...
Julia Alvarez
In "Consuelo's Letter" by Julia Alvarez, how does the author use the elements of both character and setting to...
In her story "Consuelo's Letter," Julia Alvarez uses both character and setting to achieve her purpose of advocating for the rights and safety of women. Let's look at how she does this. The story...
Julia Alvarez
Does the Julia Alvarez use symbols to represent abstract ideas in the short story "Daughter of Invention"?
Of course, all symbols represent something bigger and larger than just themselves, and this short story is no exception. Clearly, for me, the biggest symbol in this short story is the typewriter...
Julia Alvarez
Are there example of figurative language in Julia Alvarez's poem "Woman's work"?
Yes, there is figurative language in Julia Alvarez's poem "Woman's Work." There is a range of this language. There are visual images (like her scrubbing the floor). There are analogies ("keep house...
Julia Alvarez
For "Daughter of Invention," please provide summary of the story. "Daugter of Invention" by Julia Alvarez
This story, which is told from the first-person point of view, focuses on the narrator's immigrant family from the Dominican Republic. The story reveals interrelated conflicts that arise out of the...
Julia Alvarez
Is Julia Alavarz married? Does she have kids and who influenced her?
Julia Alvarez lives with her partner Bill Eichner, and together founded the Alta Gracia Foundation to support local libraries. She is influenced mainly by stories her father told her as a child...
Julia Alvarez
In “Consuelo’s Letter” by Julia Alvarez, how does the author use the elements of both character and setting to...
To respond to this question, you must first determine the author’s purpose. In “Consuelo’s Letter,” Julia Alvarez introduces us to Consuelo and Ruth. The author’s purpose is to provide a narrative...
Julia Alvarez
Please supply an example of connotation in Julia Alvarez's In The Time of Butterflies.
In In The Time of The Butterflies, the butterflies (las mariposas) are Dede's sisters who were tragically murdered (and therefore martyred) because of their involvement in the Dominican Republic's...
Julia Alvarez
What is the best way you would describe Julia Avarez's writing style? Would it be as a multicultural author vs an...
The questions indicate it may be helpful to 1) chose a style of literary criticism relative to a specific piece of writing by the author and 2) separate the author from her work. One style of...
Julia Alvarez
need an outline for a biographical approach essay on Julia Alvarez and her poem queens,1963
Below is an idea of an outline that would contain Julia Alvarez' biographical information, as well as information of some of her literary writings....
Julia Alvarez
In "Liberty," does Mr. Victor move in with the family too?
In this story of a family suffering persecution and under surveillance because of their lack of support for the president of their country, Mr. Victor, the American consul, is a close friend of the...
Julia Alvarez
In Julia Alverez's "My English," why do Julia's family refrain from using Spanish at home?
In the very first paragraph of “My English,” Julia tells us that she and her family, living in the Dominican Republic, only spoke Spanish at home. However, all that changed when Julia and her...
Julia Alvarez
What is the rising action for "Daughter of Invention"?
Julia Alvarez's "Daughter of Invention" is a short story about the cultural adjustments of a family who flee the revolutionary Dominican Republican and immigrate to New York. In the family's...
Julia Alvarez
What does the idiom "To me it makes no difference. To me." mean?
You will find the idiom “To me it makes no difference. To me.” in Julia Alvarez’s book Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the USA. An idiom is a type of figurative language in which the...
Julia Alvarez
How does the conflict between the narrator and her father develop the plot in the story “Daughter of Invention” by...
"Daughter of Invention" focuses on the relationship between a daughter and her mother. The first mentions of the child's father are in passing: the girls, with our narrator as their spokesperson,...
Julia Alvarez
How good are her novels? That's all.
This is obviously a question that could have a lot of varied answers, but I think that Julia Alvarez has done a great job of proving that she is a novelist of literary merit. She has a unique and...
Julia Alvarez
Describe Minervan in In the Time of the Butterflies. Can you also say how is Minerva different from Dede?
Minerva becomes a leader of the underground movement against Trujillo and is code named Mariposa, which means butterfly. She eventually arrested for her insurgent activities and is imprisoned as is...