Analysis Of The Character Of Carla From Trespass By Julia Alvarez

In “Trespass”, Julia Alvarez characterizes a teenage girl called Carla, who in the story further takes the reader to a world where people have trespassed against her and she struggles through different areas in her life. She exemplifies an immigrant who tries to assimilate into American culture. Carla tells the difficulty of being raised in another culture, also includes the difficulty of being a female. Through Carla, the author criticizes the body shame that every teenage girl goes through and elaborated that in a very realistic way that made the character of Carla become alive in the imagination of a reader.

Immigrants can never assimilate easily into a new culture. The struggle they feel is real. Carla shows an excellent example of an immigrant and tries to “fit into” the American culture. She had issues with understanding language, without which she cannot live in the society. Carla struggles to find her place among her peers but due to being bullied by some boys at her new school and getting interacted with a pervert guy made her feel helpless about herself. She cannot confirm to herself if she can move ahead or stay where she is. She was all alone and did not know what it looks like to be a child in American culture. Even after all she has this thirst to prove herself to the bullying boys. As Alvarez depicts her in one part as thinking of driving school in one of those “flashy red cars” which the bullying boys mention a lot while talking in their group. Alvarez also show her trying her best to fit in and learn everything by heart. In the story, Alvarez said, “Carla soon knew her school route by heart”, “She walked down the block by heart”, Then by heart, she walked the long mile”. In these quoted lines Alvarez proved that Carla was indeed trying her best and wanted to give all by her heart to learn this new language and culture. Her being immigrant and not knowing the language is a very miserable part of her life, as talking to the policemen about the incident that she encountered on road made her speechless because she did not know the basic vocabulary yet.

In the text, Alvarez states obvious feelings of Carla when she was talking to policemen as, “Carla was forced to confront the Cop’s face. It was indeed an adult version of the sickly white faces of the boys in the playground”. This quote shows how Carla was unable to stop thinking about those boys who played a huge role in her transitioning life. Despite of this she also felt other issues. Going through teenage, a girl feels the body shame and sense of loneliness haunting her because of her changing body. Carla was in the same situation as many other females. She was not only an immigrant in America who was fighting to be treated fair by people like those bullying boys, but also, she was a teenager girl who was transitioning into an adult woman. The bullying boys made fun of her body, her small breasts and her heavy legs. Alvarez pointed out her body as naturally growing but for children of her age, it’s abnormal to grow big and have certain characteristics that a female should have. She was part of the shame when the bullying boys “pulled her blouse out of the skirt where it was tucked in and lifted it high. “No titties.” He snickered. Another yanked down her socks, displaying her legs, which has begun growing soft, dark hair. “Money legs!” he yelled to his pals.” This shows how she was publicly humiliated by those boys who don’t know her and had no idea how much she is going through to “fit in” the new culture. Her growing as a teenage girl along with her number one barrier which is language difficulty has given her enormous trouble in competing with those boys. Though she still was brave enough to say “stop it” to them, instead of crying and showing that she can’t take any more of this.

Carla seemed to change a little after she has no encounter with those boys who made a huge remark on her life and keep haunting her during nights. She still tries to find strength from within as a woman. She was part of a family who struggles to fit into the culture. As her mother depicted by Alvarez also comes up with “immigrant dilemma” when a policeman referred to her as a citizen, but she thought that it is a “compliment too great to spare a child discomfort” Growing up in a family like this, Carla learned how to differentiate herself from “citizens”. Carla is shown as being disillusioned and upset about both growing up in the clashing cultures and being a young woman. Alvarez doesn’t end the story with a perfect resolution but instead she shared Carla’s thought about her struggles. Alvarez said, “The seemingly endless list of familiar names would coax her back to sleep with a feeling of safety, of a world still peopled by those who loved her”. The endless list of familiar faces is referred to people who trespassed her in her dreams and became barrier of her growing age. Carla is still looking for people who might love her and give her comfortable surroundings to stay into. She struggles with these issues while being in a new country which resembles to all the immigrants who find difficulty to fit into new culture. People in Carla’s situation feel as if they don’t have a social role to fit in to.

In “Trespass”, Julia Alvarez wanted to convey a message of what it is for a young woman to be a part of the new culture and with her family raising her as a very dependent household member and taking away from her the freedom of free speech, survives through all kinds of body shame and bullying during her school. The young woman Carla was left with no weapon which she could have used to fight with her opponents who made her feel humiliated. Her poor language made her even more silent and fight with her thoughts inside her mind and never letting anyone know.

Carla exemplifies anyone who is from another society and any woman who struggles to go through puberty. The big message that Alvarez wants to convey through Carla is that, although a young woman finds struggle to find her role in the society and another culture, but she should never let the shame she feels to control her mind and stop her from moving ahead. By struggling a little, she will be able to build her own identity.