• Importance of the mink coat, closets, and secrets more generally
• Mink coat is symbolic of the past, of wealth and status
• Vision of the American dream
• Duality of the coat and the memories attached to it--Christmas bear as something dangerous
• Use of the mink coat becomes a form of intimidation
• Storytelling has consequences and now the mother and family are in the hands of a child
• Yo and her sisters and mother--in what ways are they different?
• Use of language
• Use of truth

 

 

Structure of novel:

• Novel is structured in a prologue and three parts.  This suggests a progression or drama unfolding.
• Alvarez further organizes her work according to literary elements; each of the first chapters represents a unique point of view and a way of delivering information/insight (fiction, nonfiction, etc.)
• The sisters--Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, Sofia--are associated with fiction.
• Yolanda as a character does not assert herself in the prologue, but lets others speak about her.
• The mother is associated with nonfiction--why?

• Alvarez associates Lucinda Maria Victoria de la Torre with poetry because of her relationship with Roe, as well as for her poem which wins a prize at the boarding school.
• Boarding schools in the Northeast are full of cliques and are usually organized according to gender.
• Girls often wear white shirts, plaid skirts, and sensible shoes; boys wear chinos, white shirts, jackets dock siders.
• Historical note: in the 1980's, the preppy colors were pink and green, see the Preppy Handbook.
• Models for Alvarez's boarding schools probably include Phillips Academy in Andover, in Massachusetts
• Miss Wood's: setting for the showdown between Lucinda and Yo, also funds the production of a literary magazine (gothic, "The Cover usually featured a sketch of someone walking in a graveyard with a bare branch swaying in the breeze and some poor butterfly hovering over a tombstone." 40
• Assumptions about the Dominican Republic: third world, revolutionary and therefore unstable

The Teacher: Romance
Alvarez associates romance with Professor Garfield, a man who discovers his gay sexuality late in life, a man who also has a tender place for Yo.

The Stranger: epistle
Alvarez associates Yo with the epistle.  She meets Consuelo who wants to write a letter to her daughter, Ruth, who has emigrated to the US and married a Puerto Rican.  Consuelo's words falter, and Yo provides them, advising Ruth to seek help and not put up with abuse.