Carla is the oldest of the four Garcia Girls. Being the oldest she is the one that is initiated into America first.
In addition, due to the fact that she is the oldest she is the one that goes throught the initiation as the most impressionable. Furthermore, since Carla is the oldest she is forced to blend quickest because of lack of time till adolecenseCarla grew up as a wealthy Dominican child who was protected and nurtured. However, when she enters America she is a small fish in a big pond and gets a taste of what it is like to live as the underprivileged half, the half that tended to her needs in the old country, the half that she is now a member of. When She enters America she learns that she is on the lower end of the social order, a realization that helps her to grow and become more self reliant and practical.
Furthermore, upon entering America Carla enters a Catholic school and is tortured by a group of pale faced white children who derive great pleasure from publicly humiliating her and destroying her self esteem by hurling slurs like immigrant and spic at her. Overall however as a result she grows through this hatred and is enlightened to the prejudice in America. Carla and her family upon entering America encounter a very different economic situation. A rich Dominican girl enters the United States as an immigrant where her family cannot even make enough money to buy her the frivolous purchase of red sneakers. Through the penny pitching Carla develops a frugal side and learns that she will have to be a self made Success here in this new exposed world she has entered. For example in the story American surprise she is presented with a modern piggy bank and showed how to save for her future.
Furthermore, Carla, still being young, is still partial to child like tendencies and when the mother preps The Four Girls for there dinner with the aristocratic Fanning’s she says “ No elbows No cokes only Milk or ice water and I make your orders is that clear?” However, when Carla is bold enough to request that no fish be ordered because it gives her an upset stomach, she is shunned and does not receive a response to her question. These mandatory Behavior rules help Carla to mature, because at a young age she learns a very young age, something will overall accelerate her intellectual development, which life is not fair, and you don’t always get what you want. Experiences such as these help Carla to grow through her difficult times and strengthens her for later in life. In Conclusion, through hard times and experiences, Carla grows and develops a new perspective on the world. For instance, making the transition from aristocracy in the Dominican to the immigrant class in America teaches her to see the universal perspective of things such as, that regardless of race and class everyone has problems to deal with.
This realization most likely entices her desire to become a therapist Carla becoming a therapist gives her a road to success and motivates her to succeed like her father inevitably will. In summary, through class change and economic diversity Carla develops mentally, emotionally and worldly and through this development she gains a universal perspective and an optimistic outlook on life. Furthermore this development keeps her focused and better off than her sisters. Bibliography:
