in the second half of the book, i found that chronologically things began to flow a lot more. i was able to now see the reasoning behind all the crazy behaviour that we witnessed in the first half. Once again the topic of assimilation and racism is brought up. Constantly we are witnessing the different reasons as to why perhaps the girls grew up some what crazy, each in her own way. The part about Clara being made fun of and seeing a pedifile and also when Yolanda had to make her speech are only a few of the scenes where we see them struggling to identify themselves in this new country where they are constantly discriminated against. This led to them losing more and more of the identities as Dominicanas and identifying more with the US way of life. Its not only the girls that are going through constant identity crises’. The father not knowing how to act towards the promiscuous Mrs. Fanning and then the mother with all her inventions being stolen from her are constantly under attack by these foreign things. Again i feel like, i could relate a lot to what the girls went through, why the mother was so crazy about their manners and being proper and putting up this perfect show. I bet that as much as they felt like charity cases (which is what a lot of immigrants feel like when they cannot provide for their families) they still tried to maintain their dignity. Carlos was even lucky being able to get a doctor related job because more doctors who come from foregin countries have to take defend their Phds by taking all these courses. its like being tested if your good enough (like if the standards in your country are good enough to be used in America) and this is only one of the dynamics immigrants face when coming to a new country. This is why you see immigrants with their masters and PHD’s working as housekeepers or caretakers. as much freedom as north america may appeal to have, immigrants as long as they will live in their new country, will always feel a sense of not belonging. (this is me venting about my personal experience….sorry…. 🙂