The Daughter of Invention

The story’s two-part structure—with the first half focusing on Laura and the second on Yoyo—demonstrates how immigration and assimilation to American culture operate on different generations of the García family. Laura and Yoyo are both experimenting with modes of self-invention in their new lives in America. Laura’s commitment to inventing is a way of being acknowledged by those around her. The number of her different roles and identities are indicated by her names in the story: Laura, Mami, and Mom. She is Laura, a Dominican mother (mami), and an American mother. Her daughter, Yoyo, takes on many names throughout How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, but in “Daughter of Invention” she uses Yoyo, a nickname for Yolanda that translates from Spanish into “I, I.” This double “I” demonstrates the juxtaposition of Laura and Yoyo’s experiences, in which both characters seek to define themselves in their new lives.

A recurring theme in the story is Language, Communication, and Writing. Each family member relates to English differently. Laura commits to reading the New York Times and to speaking English, though she mixes up idioms and uses Spanish words while speaking to her family.