Most good stories start with a fundamental list of ingredients: the initial situation, conflict, complication, climax, suspense, denouement, and conclusion. Great writers sometimes shake up the recipe and add some spice.
There are a couple of ways to analyze the plot of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. You could examine the story of the family's escape from political persecution in the Dominican Republic and their adjustment to life in the United States—this is the story that's told backwards over the course of the novel.
Or you could see the family's history as sort of a background for another, more intimate story. It's the story of Yolanda's self-exploration and gradual self-acceptance.
We like that both plots exist simultaneously and in opposite directions—it's kind of like they're mirror images of one another. We'll analyze them both below according to a "Classic Plot Analysis."
1. The García Family, Coming to America
Exposition (Initial Situation)
I'm Not That Innocent
Ah, the innocence of youth! The idyllic bliss of Island life! What's that you say? These little girls are torturing kittens, spying on weird sexual acts, and showing their genitals to their male cousin? Oh, and also the Dominican Republic is ruled by a tyrannical, genocidal dictator?
Wow, this is a lot of information to cram into an Exposition—which is basically a description of the lay of the land, before the plot gets moving. But this rich description of the García sisters' childhood gives us the idea that they're happy where they are. They're home. And they don't really expect that to change.
That is, until...
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Rally the troops!
The CIA sends Victor Hubbard to organize an upper-class rebellion against Rafael Trujillo, Genocidal Maniac. And one of those would-be rebels is the García girls' dad, Carlos García. Okay, this is starting to get exciting!
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Help us, Victor Hubbard, you're our only hope!
Oh boy, the García family is in trouble now! Carlos is nearly arrested by the SIM, and the family has to flee the country. Chucha talks about their leaving as though they are dying. They're going to live in a land of zombies, and they'll never really be able to come home again. This is a moment of maximum crisis.
Falling Action
The USA: Not all it's cracked up to be.
Phew, the García family made it. They escaped with their lives, and adrenaline levels can return to normal.
While the international plot-hatching action is definitely falling, the regular ol' family drama takes center stage again. Nasty neighbors, boring suburbs and second-hand clothes. The girls can't even get a decent television. This is a long way from the luxurious lifestyle they're used to. The language barrier and cultural differences add to the girls' feeling of isolation and "otherness."
Resolution (Denouement)
Spy No More
Papi's career as international rabble-rouser is definitely over. Nothing really worked out the way he hoped, and he seems a little depressed about it.
As for the García sisters, they've managed to build successful careers, but they aren't so lucky in love. In fact, Yoyo considers herself and her two older sisters to be train wrecks. Are they trapped between two cultures?
As far as resolutions go, this one is pretty open-ended.
2. Yoyo
Exposition (Initial Situation)
You Can't Go Back Again
Yoyo's having a midlife crisis. Who is she? Where is her home? She's never felt at home in the U.S., but she doesn't seem to fit in in the Dominican Republic, either. This initial situation is a real pickle.
Rising Action (Conflict, Complication)
Unraveling
To deal with these confused feelings, Yoyo starts telling stories. Backwards. It's kind of like she's unraveling her knitting, trying to find the mistake that she made a long time ago that's screwing everything up now. We don't know that we'd describe this as a "conflict," really. It's more of a strategy that gets the plot moving.
Climax (Crisis, Turning Point)
Cats: Not Just for YouTube Anymore
When Yoyo began her storytelling journey, did she ever think that the most important moment in her life was going to involve a kitten? Yoyo takes a kitten from its mother and then cruelly abandons it because she feels guilty. Compared to this moment, moving to the U.S. was a piece of cake. This is a moral crisis.
Mama cat starts haunting Yoyo, never letting her forget the moment of the "violation." Whoa. "Violation." That's a pretty climactic word. It points us to the single most horrific action in the plot: throwing a cute little kitten out of a window.
For Yoyo, remembering this violation changes everything. Let's see what happens next.
Falling Action
Fast-forward
Now that she's identified the moment of trauma, Yoyo can zoom back to the present moment. She fast-forwards through her move to the U.S., her first glimpse of snow, her literary career. It all makes so much more sense now. Everything falls into place.
Resolution (Denouement)
Not Kitten Around Anymore
Yoyo's final two sentences are an honest assessment of her identity, and an admission about "The Kitten Incident." The affair with the kitten was a violation—but it's the reason Yoyo is a writer. And she's comfortable admitting that. Yolanda's national and cultural identities may continue to be divided, but her identity as a storyteller is resolved.