They cannot even go to the hospital when sick for fear of being discovered -- although, to be fair, America never really gives any of the Garcia girls a complete sense of a female identity and Latina 'self,' while the male immigrants of Boyle's tale find some identity in their roles as husbands and fathers. The U.S. immigration policies of crossing borders are raised in Tortilla Curtain -- the poor Mexican workers are needed to sustain the U.S. economy, yet are treated like outcasts because they are deemed illegal. The close relationship between the United States and certain Latin American nations is highlighted, politically, as well in How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, as the girls are caught in the crossfire of history. The father's political actions change the girl's social lives forever, and their identities as women forever.

The girls do not assimilate completely, even though they lose their accents -- they always remain betwixt and between America and the Dominican Republic in spirit, as they played with American toys as Latin American children, and date American men but in the guise of Latina women. And neither do Boyle's immigrants. Like all Americans,...

And Mexican bishops in the pastoral letter, "Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope?" ultimately the Garcia girls concerns seem to ring less 'true' than that of the protagonist in Tortilla Flat. For a middle class reader, the Garcia girls have experiences that are more immediately 'relatable.' But the plight of immigrants who work in utter silence, unlike the Garcia girls, without the benefits of even an uncomfortable education, and whose tireless labors support the American economy emerges as the most moving and the most in need of immediate political redress.
Works Cited

Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Algonquin, 1991.

Coraghessan Boyle, T. The Tortilla Curtain. New York: Penguin, 1996.