Yo! - Annotated Bibliography

Thesis and Research Outline for Yo!

Weltee Wolo

Rasmussen College

Author Note

This paper is being submitted on August 05, 2017 Rebecca Moore’s

Literature of American Minorities G435/AML4680 course

Topic and Thesis

Topic: Comparison of gender roles on the Old country and the US

Yo and her family have had the opportunity to go back and forth between the United States and the Dominican Republic in search of safety and relevance over durations of dictatorship and political instability. The act of straddling between two unique and distinct cultures has evidently impacted their gender roles and orientation. These incidences and migrations have fueled the diverse understanding of the gender roles depicted between the two times, cultures and geographies.

Thesis:

The novel is an indication of separate locations that Yo and her family get to experience, and it is from these different periods and times that there is apparent culture interaction and non-contemporary gender roles indicated within the small family.

There are several reasons that the author’s family travel back and forth between the United States and the Dominican Republic and the motivation for these travels are for political asylum. These are based on the fact that the novel is presented in a time when there is the dictatorship and political instability within the Dominican Republic. Yo and her family have had the opportunity to go back and forth between the United States and the Dominican Republic in search of safety and relevance over durations of dictatorship and political instability. In these two separate periods, there is evidence that the two cultural interaction and experiences have mixed their understanding of the role that the different genders are supposed to play within the two separate societies.

Three outstanding functions are evident throughout the text, and these are political leaders and a fore front in the fight against dictatorship, identity seekers and the distinct male role that is embedded in male patriarchy. In the Dominican Republic, women are seen taking the lead role and even losing their lives when fighting the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the novel. They are dotted as “Las Mariposas” to symbolize the delicate yet aggressive nature of their role in that society. After they moved to the United States, the struggles proceed from dictatorship and the need to be relevant in a foreign society. The writer takes the reader through the life of Yo who struggles to master the art f living in the United States and common issues such as seeking an identity, fitting in and the process of language acquisition. The father to the girls exclusively brings about the aspects of male patriarchy. He is seen as the sole decision maker and having a great influence on the terms of both migrations. Rafael Trujillo is also a symbolic depiction of male patriarchy.

Despite the transitions between the two worlds, there is evidence of role value as each gender take on strong yet significant functions in promoting sense of family and community. These functions help to define the family and equally understand the society in which the story is based.