I would have to say my favourite story in the latter half of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents was “The Drum”. I felt Alvarez’s use of the kitten as a metaphor for the García girls quite wonderful. As scholar William Luis has put it “like the kitten, Yolanda was also uprooted from her nest, her childhood (perhaps seven years too early) in the Dominican Republic. And the drum beats meant to disguise the meows of the kitten represent a natural language and an imposed one, which in the years to come would cover her accent” (Luis 847). I thought it was very significant that Alvarez chose to end with this story, as it painted such a perfect picture of the pain and trauma of being uprooted from everything one has ever known and flung into a confusing and foreign environment.

The change in narrative voice near the end of the novel from third person to first person is a significant stylistic technique. There is a definite distance between narrator and reader in the instance of third person narration. First person narration, however, is a much more personal and intimate representation of events and thus the transition allows for the reader to feel a much stronger connection with the girls. The sentiments expressed are therefore much more effectively communicated to the reader and the sense of pain and bewilderment is emphasized stylistcally.