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Sandra García
Carla is the oldest of Carlos and Laura’s four daughters. When the family moves to the U.S., Carla is already approaching adolescence. She is bullied in school and is sexually harassed by a stranger as she walks home one day. Carla wishes to return to the Dominican Republic for a long time after moving, but she is overall less affected by the move than Yolanda and Sandra. She is stable and rational, and less prone to emotional outbursts than her sisters. Carla later studies psychology and gives a lot of unsolicited advice to her sister. She becomes a child psychologist and writes publicly about the traumas her family endured during her upbringing.
Carla García Quotes in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
The How the García Girls Lost Their Accents quotes below are all either spoken by Carla García or refer to Carla García. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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6. A Regular Revolution Quotes
The pictures all celebrated women and their bodies, so it wasn’t technically about sex as she had understood it up to then. But there were women exploring “what their bodies were all about” and a whole chapter on lesbians. (Things, Mami said, examining the pictures, to be ashamed of.)
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Mundín wiggles his eyebrows. “How many taboos can we break here? Let’s see.” He enumerates: incest, group sex, lesbian sex, virgin sex—
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There, among the pink vanities with baskets of little towels and talcum powder and brushes, we come up with our plot. We reach out our hands and seal our pact. Yoyo rallies us with “¡Que viva la revolución!”
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These baby monkeys were kept in a cage so long, they wouldn’t come out when the doors were finally left open. Instead, they stayed inside and poked their arms through the bars for their food, just out of reach.
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Carla García Character Timeline in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
The timeline below shows where the character Carla García appears in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
3. The Four Girls
...always wears the same color. Sofia wears white, Yolanda wears pink, Sandra wears blue, and Carla wears yellow. Yolanda is happy because pink is a girly color, and as Sofia grows...
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...on edge because her lover Clive left her to go “back to his wife again.” Carla and Sofia try to mediate the other two’s arguments. Throughout the conversation, Yolanda’s sisters call...
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6. A Regular Revolution
...year. Sofia chooses to stay on the Island because she is unhappy in New York. Carla thinks this is a bad idea, as it’s normal for teenagers to be unhappy. Carla...
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...they want to stay on the Island. The situation reminds them of an experiment from Carla’s studies in college, wherein monkeys are trapped in cages so long that they no longer...
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8. Trespass
...flan for the occasion, and everyone makes a wish as they blow out the candle. Carla wishes to go back home. She misses her cousin Lucinda. The García family now lives...
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Carla is in seventh grade. At school, a group of boys regularly harasses her. They throw...
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Two officers come to the García house to write a report of what happened to Carla. Carla struggles with her limited English to describe the event, and the officers’ insensitivity troubles...
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11. The Blood of the Conquistadores
Since Laura told them to get out of the room with the men, Carla and Sandra are eating lunch at Tía Carmen and Tío Mundo’s house. Carla can tell...
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Laura is relieved to see Vic approach with Sandra and Carla. Vic tells the men that Carlos will be home soon, and that Carlos and his...
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14. An American Surprise
...a pile of presents—even the baby Sofia as well as all the servants. That night, Carla can’t sleep because she’s excited about her new toys. Gladys comes into her room and...
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