Carla is the oldest of the four Garcia Girls. Being the oldest she is the one that is initiated into America first. In addition, due to the fact that she is the oldest she is the one that goes throught the initiation as the most impressionable. Furthermore, since Carla is the oldest she is forced to blend quickest because of lack of time till adolecense Carla grew up as a wealthy Dominican child who was protected and nurtured. However, when she enters America she is a small fish in a big pond and gets a taste of what it is like to live as the underprivileged half, the half that tended to her needs in the old country, the half that she is now a member of. When She enters America she learns that she is on the lower end of the social order, a realization that helps her to grow and become more self reliant and practical. Furthermore, upon entering America Carla enters a Catholic school and is tortured by a group of pale faced white children who derive great pleasure from publicly humiliating her and destroying her self esteem by hurling slurs like immigrant and spic at her. Overall however as a result she grows through this hatred and is enlightened to the prejudice in America. Carla and her family upon entering America encounter a very different economic situation. A rich Dominican girl enters the United States as an immigrant where her family cannot even make enough money to buy her the frivolous purchase of red sneakers. Through the penny pitching Carla develops a frugal side and learns that she will have to be a self made Success here in this new exposed world she has entered. For example in the story American surprise she is presented with a modern piggy bank and showed how to save for her future. Furthermore, Carla, still being young, is still partial to child like tendencies and when the mother preps The Four Girls for there dinner with the aristocratic Fanning’s she says “ No elbows No cokes only ...
