In “Quinceañera”, Julia Alvarez uses her own childhood experiences to explain what a quinceañera is. First, Alvarez introduces the formal definition of “quinceañera”. According to Alvarez, a quinceañera is an elaborate and ritualized party in which families and friends gathering together to celebrate a young girl who has just turned fifteen years old, and is ready to turn into an adult. During the quinceañera, many of the lower-class families choose to celebrate with a cake while rich families will have their girls dressed up in an elegant and formal dress. Over the years, quinceañera have become more highly ritualized, they have added more symbolism to the event such as a tiara, fourteen girls and guys that the girl chooses to be in the party,