Biography

Julia Alvarez was born in the United States. Her parents were from the Dominican Republic and she was the second oldest of three sisters. The family moved back to the Dominican when Julia was an infant because they preferred the leadership at home to the U.S.A of the early 50’s. A bad dictatorship took over in the Dominican Republic and Julia’s father was a part of an underground movement to rid their country of this man. The family got word that the underground group had been exposed and would be arrested and possibly killed. They fled immediately, and ten year old Julia found her dream of living in America and being an American child come true. Her dream was quickly crushed as the reality of this new harsh world where minorities and immigrants didn’t fit in became apparent. She was not accepted at school, and often bullied by other children. She became introverted and quiet so her father introduced to her libraries. Here she flourished and soaked in all the information she could get her hands on. Back home she had loved creating stories, telling stories, and hearing stories. She had grown up in an oral based culture where stories were told and passed on by word of mouth, but here they were written. Because she did not understand this language as well, she was forced to pay special attention to each word, causing and training her to become a better writer. She began writing, and although she knew that both a female writer and a Latino writer were unheard of, she didn’t stop. This was something Julia knew she was meant to do and she was out to achieve success.

Alvarez attended college and a graduate program in creative writing. She continued writing but knew she needed to earn a living. Therefore Julia took up teaching and traveled to many schools teaching poetry in school programs. After years of travel, she decided to settle down and teach at the high school level, later accepting a tenure position at Middlebury College. While teaching here she published her first novel, and her agent connected Alvarez with a small press. The press, Algonquin Books, was in search of a new voice, something fresh, so they published Julia’s work. After 20 years of writing, at age 41, Alvarez’s dream of becoming a writer came true. Julia was now faced with a decision, between teaching and being a writer for a living. Julia reluctantly gave up her post as a teacher at Middlebury College. Although she is a full time writer, she is still active at the college and even teaches a course from time to time. She visits classes, gives readings, and helps new writers by reading their work. She resides in Vermont with her husband, Bill Eichner, where they own an eleven acre farm. They grow all organic vegetables and are very passionate about sustainable farming. Their newest project was starting a program and building a sustainable organic farm and school in the DR. 

(Poetry Foundation, http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/julia-alvarez)

(Julia Alvarez, http://www.juliaalvarez.com/about/)

(enotes, http://www.enotes.com/topics/julia-alvarez)

I enjoyed many of Alvarez’s works, but one that stood out to me was “Ironing their clothes”. This was my favorite poem by Julia because she brings life to the clothing of her family as well as to the daily task itself. For example, she describes the worn garments of her father to be a representation of the man himself. Worn and old from the work he has done, his clothes adopt the same characteristics. Since Alvarez has defined her family through their clothing, the act of washing and ironing their clothing is really a representation of cleaning and straightening out the family members themselves. In the poem her mother is busy and hardworking and although there is not a lot of down time Julia enjoys spending time with her mother, even if that time is while they are working. To me this poem is about an immigrant family who must work hard to survive. It showcases love, and family, and that families must work together to stay together. I thought Alvarez wrote this poem beautifully and it was my favorite because of the meaning and overall theme of the poem.

Click here to read "Ironing Their Clothes" by Julia Alvarez 

Poetry Devices

Device 1: “Dusting” by Julia Alvarez: Metaphor

My name was swallowed in the towel

with which she jeweled the table tops.

The grain surfaced in the oak

and the pine grew luminous.

But I refused with every mark

to be like her, anonymous. (Alvarez 13-18)

      There are a few different metaphors that can be taken from these few lines, and I found them extremely fascinating and inspirational so I will share them all with you. 

        

      We see the young girl signing her name around the house, and the mother wiping it away as she does her daily work. This is an example of a metaphor for a different generation of women because we see that the mother thinks that a women’s place should be in the house cleaning, cooking and serving. We also see the next generation; the little girl wanting to make a name for herself and wanting to be a successful part of the public society.

      Another way these lines can be interpreted into a metaphor is if you see the mother as a poet. The artist or poet must step back and vanish into their work. The poem is what matters, not the writer’s name. The artist must also be like the little girl in the sense that they must have aspiration and determination to picture success and create a place in society for themselves.

      I selected these lines and these metaphors because they spoke to me personally. I found the poem really well written and I thought that it was really cool that you could get so many different meanings and metaphors out of a few lines.

Device 2: “First Muse” by Julia Alvarez: Simile

For months I suffered from bad writer's-block,

which I envisioned, not as a blank page,

but as a literary border guard

turning me back to Spanish on each line. (Alvarez 17-20)

      In these lines Alvarez uses a simile to compare her bad writers block to a literary border guard. I chose this device because it sums up what the whole poem is about. Alvarez was filled with doubt when she was told that one could not write poetry unless English was their native language. This stunted her thinking and she let this comment consume her and block her out like a “literary border guard.” (Alvarez 19) Later she comes to the realization that it simple isn’t true, and overcame her writers block.  She discovered that anyone is able to write poetry no matter where you are from.

Evaluation:

In my opinion Julia Alvarez is extremely worthy of study for many reasons. She is a hardworking woman, who has been through many struggles and trials to get to where she is today. One could just give up when things get hard, but Julia did not. She knew that being a Latino writer was unheard of but she knew what she wanted and went after it. She is extremely passionate about her writing, and writing in general. Alvarez wants to encourage other writers to pursue their dreams as well. She is a down to earth poet, and writes poetry that readers are able to clearly understand and relate to. I really connected and enjoyed reading her poems. In Alvarez’s poem “Dusting” I really related to the last two lines. Like the girl in the poem my heart longs to be outgoing, and see the world. I wish to make a name for myself and make a difference. I also personally connected to Julia through my research. She and her husband reside in Vermont and spend their time farming an eleven acre farm. Here they grow many organic vegetables, and are very into sustainability when farming. This is something I am passionate about and was happy to hear.

The poem “Queens, 1963” also really stood out to me. It really hit me that immigrants who had been discriminated, and put out by Americans when they arrived, would do the same to new races and immigrants when they arrived in the states. They had been through that, knew that struggle and felt that pain. Why would they wish that and be the ones to cause it for someone else? The hypocrisy is unreal. What I took away from reading that is realizing that I never want to be that person. I never want to cause pain and pass judgment on a person or group of people just because they are different than me. Tying this into the next question, this thought was one that challenged me concerning my faith and worldview. It was really sad for me to read “Queens, 1963” and realize that there was this perfect “American mold” that society told the immigrants they had to fit into. How could they? This was just not feasible. So there they were feeling out of place and not good enough; not American enough. Truly there is no perfect American mold, and America is blessed to be such a beautiful mixing pot of many different diverse ethnicities. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28