Julia Alvarez Bibliography

            After being born into a Dominican family in New York City in 1950 on March 27, Julia Alvarez and her parents moved back to the Dominican Republic while under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. Her family fled the country in 1960 because of a political ordeal with her father. Though their living areas were small and life was tough, she made due with her family and her writing. Throughout Julia’s work, the theme of being caught between two cultures can be found (Editors, 2014). Exploring this throughout her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991), her audience grew continuously and flowed into her second novel.  She based this novel off of the murder of the Mirabal sisters that took place just three months after they were able to escape in 1994.   This novel was named In the Time of Butterflies. Since then, Julia Alvarez has published many works of fiction and has grown in her popularity.

            Julia Alvarez’s transition to American life was hard and rather challenging, but she soon evolved into a very devoted reader and committed her life to learning English fluently. Once she reached age 13, she was sent to a boarding school and returned to the Dominican Republic ever summer break. Her love of language and sensitivity to the sound and feel of words rated her with high credits which were instilled in her by her English teachers. During creative exercises, she reveled excellent talent with discovering meaning behind symbols such as snowflakes, flowers, or pianos. The overpowering meaning of words would sometimes stay in her mind for days and she would repeat them over and over (n.a. 2014). This energy was displayed in her works using strange language. Now she lives in Vermont with her husband Bill Eichner, and has been there since 1989. She still serves as a writer-in-residence at Middlebury College.     

Cited Sources:

"Alvarez, Julia: 1950—: Author." Contemporary Hispanic Biography. Retrieved February 05,       2017 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-   white-papers-and-books/alvarez-julia-1950-author

“Biography.com Editors.” Julia Alvarez Biography. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved April   2, 2014 from http://www.biography.com/people/julia-alvarez-185850

Heroics is my favorite poem by Julia Alvarez. This poem is a representation of love. Julia seems sad while she writes this. She expresses how many times she has been hurt and how many men she has gone through claiming how they were her true loves (Alvarez, 2-4). She is being told through plots of media and the people around her that love is something sweet and easy and will cure all your hurts, but deep down she knows this is false. She speaks of her mother and she encourages her that love is not easy, but Julia knows just how uneasy it is. In this poem, Julia Alvarez does a perfect job at describing how the realities of life can crush the sweetest thing as love in a simple turning of the page of one’s heart (28-29).

https://kimblekorner.wikispaces.com/Julia+Alvarez

Influences:

Julia Alvarez was tossed into a foreign language, country, and culture as a child. She found comfort in books and writing. This influenced her writing the most in her career as an author later in the future. Because her family suddenly left the country of the Dominican Republic to avoid political trouble with her father. This could have affected her traumatically and influence her writing. She was also bullied in the American school she attended because she could not speak English properly. This may have caused her to recluse and focus solely on her writing and the content of it. For Julia Alvarez, life was kind of communal. She and her sisters were raised along with their cousins and were constantly supervised by her mother, maids, and many aunts. This constant supervision may have influenced her to reach out with her writing and become her own person. Julia’s family was not wealthy. Through this, she was taught patience and respect. This may have influenced her genuine sensitivity that is greatly brought out in her writings. 

Cited Sources:

Alvarez, Julia: 1950—: Author: Retrieved on February 5, 2017 from http://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/journalism-and-publishing-biographies/julia-alvarez

Julia Alvarez, About Me: Retrieved on February 5, 2017 from http://www.juliaalvarez.com/about/

Julia Alvarez Facts: Retrieved on February 5, 2017 from http://biography.yourdictionary.com/julia-alvarez.

Heroics by Julia Alvarez

                “Sadly, we turn the page to right our hearts, knowing our lives too well to be the heroines of our mother’s stories” (Alvarez, 28-32).

In this line of the poem Heroics, Julia uses sensory imagery to describe how they right their hearts using wording like “turning the pages.” One could imagine a literal page turning over.

                

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez: Chapter 1

                “A chill goes through her, for she feels it in her bones” (Alvarez, 10).

In this chapter, Julia Alvarez is describing how she felt when the reality of her father’s dangerous situation sets in leading to her two sister’s death. The sensation of fear and anxiety are described very descriptively with the use of the words “chill” and “feels it in her bones.”

               

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez: Chapter 6

                “We've traveled almost the full length of the island and can report that every corner of it is wet, every river overflows its banks, every rain barrel is filled to the brim, every wall washed clean of writing no one knows how to read anyway” (Alvarez, 117). Metaphor.

She is driving back with her parents after Enrique Mirabal is released from prison basically insane. The rain is pouring hard and represents a storm that began for the Mirabal family when the trouble with Minerva and how they slapped Trujillo. This also represents Trujillo’s strength and power. Everything is soaked along with the influence of dictatorship. This section of the novel shows the authoritarian theme.

Julia Alvarez’s story is tragic and can relate with many authors and people struggling with loss and having to move to a complete strange land with customs and people that they don’t even know. She demonstrates her will and her passions involving her story throughout all of her written work. I personally connect with Julia’s writing style and how she was able to portray a perfect feeling of fear, agony, anxiety, dread, and relent all through metaphors. Her strength stretches beyond her words pulling you into a world inside her mind and memories. She is an author who will pull at your heartstrings with gentleness and great excitement.