Julia Alvarez Biography

Hey guys! I found a really good Julia Alvarez biography on a website, and I thought I'd share it with you guys! ENJOY

-Gabby

"Julia Alvarez was born on March 27, 1950, in New York, New York, but she spent her early years in the Dominican Republic. She and her sisters were brought up along with their cousins, and were supervised by her mother, maids, and many aunts. Her father, a doctor who ran a nearby hospital, had met her mother while she was attending school in the United States. Alvarez's family was highly influenced by American attitudes and goods. Alvarez and her sisters attended an American school, and, for a special treat, they ate ice cream from an American ice cream parlor. The entire extended family had respect and admiration for America; to the children, it was a fantasy land.

When Alvarez was ten years old, her father became involved with a plot to overthrow the dictator (military ruler) of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. His plans were discovered, however. With the help of an American agent, he was able to get his family out of the country before being arrested or killed. The Alvarez family returned to New York. Describing the scene in American Scholar as their plane landed in the United States, Alvarez wrote, "All my childhood I had dressed like an American, eaten American foods, and befriended American children. I had gone to an American school and spent most of the day speaking and reading English. At night, my prayers were full of blond hair and blue eyes and snow.… All my childhood I had longed for this moment of arrival. And here I was, an American girl, coming home at last."

I thought one of the reasons this one was so good was because it talked about Trujillo, and that is where she got her inspiration for the book "In the Time of the Butterflies", I assume. I had no idea that this was such a personal book for her to write!

You can read the rest of her biography at http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Alvarez-Julia.html if you want to. I just thought I would put in the part that I feel relates with our group's book.