Having grown up in Sunset Park, I was easily able to identify the surroundings. The parks, the houses-all areas that I have, in some way or another, passed by. Yet, it was definitely a shock to see what Sunset Park was like on the big screen, to outsiders. Most of Sunset Park is not middle class or anywhere near that strata. Sunset Park and its residents are predominately working-class immigrants and their families. Therefore, Mrs. Ortiz and her three daughters are one family amongst many others, struggling to make a better life for themselves in a strange country.
I would argue that her three daughters: Monica, the eldest, Aida, the middle child, and Mayra, the youngest, have characteristics that all define the American experience. As the film goes to show, all three sisters are very different, and yet, the same.
Monica is the epitome of the American dream: she is from a poor family who studies and works very hard, graduating from one of the best institutions in the world. Yet, she originally wants to sacrifice her happiness-acting- for a steady job as a doctor for her parents’ happiness. Monica is also the one who pushes aside, willingly or involuntarily, her Dominican heritage. As she herself and her sisters said, she doesn’t have many Latino friends. She characterizes the immigrant who wants to adopt a new identity, someone who is more American. This is part of the American experience: an immigrant or the second generation immigrant is eager to discard their old identity in favor of conforming. Monica also describes herself as a “jack of all trades, master of none” which is something a lot of young adults face nowadays in an economy that demands multiple skills.
Aida says that according to her psychology textbook, she “is the typical middle child.” As we see, she fits that description perfectly. Much of the film doesn’t focus on her problems, but rather on Monica and on Mayra. Aida struggles to get attention from her parents, who are working long hours as custodians at the hospital and at the doctor’s office. She tries to find her own independence-like many of us- by getting a job at McDonald’s. It was supposed to be a way for her to not ask her parents for money, yet she ends up getting fired because she is late too frequently. Aida is the immigrant who tries to find her identity and the teenager who is growing up and trying to get independence through his/her own means.
Mayra is the youngest child, and she is the one who is closest to her Dominican heritage. She calls herself-or her sisters do-the “ghetto Dominican.” As we see in the film, Mayra struggles in school; she hangs out on the streets with her friends and family. Her mother, Mrs. Ortiz, tries to be more involved in Mayra’s activities in school. Mayra is the one who famously dubs her house as a “hotel in the Dominican Republic.” Mayra represents the experience of the immigrant who is yet unable to cut ties to her heritage. Unlike Monica, who has few connections to her Dominican background, Mayra is immersed in it.
All three of these sisters represent the American Dream and the American Experience in some way or another. All the sisters come from humble background, but all have their heads held high: they may struggle and toil as their parents are/were, but what they will realize is that despite the work that goes into achieving a better life in America, the result will be so worth it. Eight years after the film was created, in fact, the Ortiz family opened a hotel in the Dominican Republic, which is managed by Aida. All three sisters have higher education and families of their own now. Now, that is the American experience.
