Julia Alvarez was raised in Dominican Republic by her parents. In her young days, he repeatedly failed in English classes at the school in America. She got her schooling from Abbot Academy since a tender age of thirteen and later joined the Connecticut College in 1967. She then got admitted to Syracuse University in 1975 for her degree in Fine Arts. It is ironic and inspiring as she now writes poems and novels exclusively in English and has got much acclaim for her literary pursuits. Her literary works focus on themes of assimilation and identity. Her works exude political and personal tone. She has been working as a teacher for years and is now employed as a Professor of English and Creative Writing in Middlebury College. The stalwart has won many awards and grants and her works have been published in many anthologies. Her works explore her array of childhood memories and her experiences of being an immigrant. She is considered as one of the most successful Latina writers and has won accolades across the globe for her quintessence.
A very famous poem by Julia Alvarez is Hairbands where she goes on to pour the feelings of her heart. The poem is penned in prose form and is divided into three stanzas. The stanzas document the transition of expression as she goes on to say how the hairbands are given away in her dream, how she misses the hairbands and how she is affected by the incident. The poet does not deviate from the general syntactic rule of language and thus expresses the emotions of her heart without resorting to her poetic license.
She describes how her hairbands have become the symbol of her identity and existence. She is deeply stirred as she sees a dream in which her husband has given away the hairbands to his young colleagues as he feels that she does not need them anymore. In stark contrast, she is haunted by the thought of not having the hairbands with her and is left searching for her identity in the midst of the clamor of life. She describes how the hairbands are so relevant in her life. Alvarez goes on to write, “These are the chastened girl-selves I gave up / to become the woman who could be married to you.” (Alvarez)
The hairbands are symbolic of her youth when she was a free spirit who would enjoy the experiences of life. She gave up this freedom and became a woman to get married to the man. She tells how “once in a while” she pulls “them out / of (my) dresser drawer and touch them to (my) cheek..” (Alvarez) She goes on to say how she wakes up and checks if the things are in place. These have become the epitome of the spirit of the innermost core of her heart and the hairbands are metaphorical of the female emancipation from the bondages of marriage. The poet writes, “He says I do not need them, I’ve cut my hair” and readily objects to the man’s perspective.
The poet goes on to describe images of different colors of hairbands signifying the colors of life. The first stanza has rich visual images of “flowered crepe” and “mock-tortoise shells”. She goes on to describe that that these hairbands are trophies of her “maidenhood” and how these make her reminiscent of “the romantic heroine with the pale, operatic face”. Slipping out of the bed and checking on the hairbands provides her with reassurance of her identity and calms her tumultuous mind.
Thus, the poem delves deep into the psyche of a lady and attains universality in its content and theme as it talks of female identity and the social subjugation in the form of marriage. Alvarez aptly describes the feelings and touches the heart of the avid reader and leaves a lasting effect on the mind.
Works Cited
Alvarez, Julia. Hairbands. Algonquin. Web. 7 August 2013.
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