Abstract
This paper examines the influence of race, gender and ethnicity on personality development through a review of three novels, "House of Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina Garcia and "How Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent" by Julia Alvarez. It explores the problems that immigrant families encounter when they move to the United States as portrayed in these stories.

From the Paper
"Race, ethnicity, immigration and their impact on one's personality are serious subjects which need to be studied carefully in order to understand why they cast such profound influence on human beings and their sense of self. In the three books namely, "House of Mango Street", "Dreaming in Cuban" and "How Garcia girls lost their accent", the authors give us unique insights into the subjects of race, discrimination and identity crisis and the role they play in the evolution of one's personality and character. The most important and by far the wisest approach towards these subjects was adopted by Sandra Cisneros, the writer of House on Mango Street. This is because while the other two writers deal with causes of immigration and the disturbing aspects of immigration, Cisneros focuses mainly on the internal conflict, dream and hopes of those who move from poor countries to the land of opportunity. It is very important to understand that all three have given a fictional touch to their own life stories since they all migrated to the United States with their families when conditions in their native countries appeared unfavorable."

Tags:immigrant, family, Cisneros, Alvarez, Berrios, Garcia, crisis, character, discrimination, psychepoor, opportunity, culture