The stories of Junot Diaz feature various elements of social and personal issues that are highly prevalent in young Latinx men, primarily the compulsion and adverse effect of machismo, the poignancy of being an outcast in one’s community, and the lack of a father figure in a boy’s life. The first set of short stories prominently feature Ysrael, a Dominican boy whose face was disfigured by a pig when he was an infant. In “Ysrael”, he is the object of Yunior’s fascination, and the victim or Rafa’s (Yunior’s brother) torment. In “No Face”, Ysrael narrates the same events instead of Yunior. Although these two short stories do not directly feature Yunior and Rafa’s father, they are as much about Yunior’s growth and development during his father’s absence as they are about Ysrael. In “Situating Latin American Masculinity: Immigration, Empathy and Emasculation in Junot Diaz’s Drown”, John Riofrio emphasizes that “Ysrael sets the stage for the picture of masculinity which will reveal itself throughout all ten of the stories.” At this point in time, Yunior is only a nine year old boy in the Dominican Republic, at a point in life where he is on …show more content…
In his world, one is either the violator or the violated. This lesson is showcased twice over the course of the day. First, when he and Rafa ride the bus. While Rafa is trying to scam their way onto the bus, a pedophile takes advantage of Yunior and touches his private area. Though Yunior berates the man, he is thoroughly traumatized by the experience. When the brothers Run away without paying their fare, Yunior begins to cry. The encounter leaves Yunior shaken, but Rafa thinks it is because they didn’t pay the bus fare. “You,” Rafa says, “are a pussy” (13). And later, “Are you always going to be a pussy?” (14). Yunior cannot answer, and he cannot tell Rafa what happened back on the bus. According to Rafa, the appropriate response to trauma is to “get tougher”
They way a person reads is greatly influenced by their personal background; their story, their culture, anything that led them to who they are today. When reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents written by Dominican-American Julia Alvarez, many controversial points are brought up that can be interpreted in many different ways depending on who is reading. In many scenarios, it’s the matter of where the reader comes from, in this case the Dominican Republic, or the United States. By having written from both Dominican and American perspectives, Alvarez teaches how a character’s sexuality or sexual tendencies can be perceived differently depending on the reader's personal background.
In addition, he is cheating on her and doesn’t even try to keep it a secret from the kids, as he takes them to his mistress’s house one time. At the fiesta, there are other families who dance together and laugh, scream, and enjoying the party. On the other hand, Yunior’s parents seems distant to one another. The party represents what the family should be as oppose to what they actually are. Yunior car sickness is a combination of stress, his overpowering father, submissive mother, and the unforgettable trauma of his father’s
“How to Date a Brown Girl, Black Girl, White Girl or Halfie” Junot Diaz The writer gives a bird eye view regarding rules and manners to date plus methods of proficiently pander to in relation (sexual) with the one who he is dating. Diaz specifically highlights about the level of confidence of parents has on their young sons but still they has been noticed in leaving them alone at house. The primary user of the author’s stance is expected to be undergrads. The writer also mentions in his story about how one should be making sexual initiatives, which not only gives maximum strength to the sexual relation but also not putting the family and the girl in an awkward position, which will ultimately humiliate their family. Furthermore, the writer also describes the various signals and responses girls’ gives in a sexual relation and how those responses can be and should be manipulated by the opposite person.
The Dominican Masculinity In the novel a typical Dominican male is portrayed as powerful, full of charm and physically attractive. Oscar, weighing over 300 pounds, and living an extremely nerdy life is a complete opposite of the Dominican stereotype. According to the book’s narration the most important part of DR masculinity is sex and this is again something that Oscar struggles to experience, but no matter what he does, he can’t. On the other hand, Junior is the exact representation of a Dominican male. He possesses all the properties that a DR man is supposed to have and even these are extraordinary potent.
Sula’s and Nel’s friendship is invaluable because they two meet at the time when they need each other the most and this is an important aspect of Sula’s and Nel’s friendship, they are together because they want to, not because they have to; it is also this aspect of Sula and Nel’s relationship which is different from their relationships with their mothers. Sula and Nel meet at the time in their life when they both start to realize that their position in the society is disadvantaged “because each had discovered years before that they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set about creating something else to be”(52). The two girls make friends because they have a lot in common and grew up in the same neighborhood and community; they understand each other’s problems and needs.
In Latino culture, machismo behavior is defined by men that see inferiority in people and expect obedience from them (mostly non-male-bodied individuals). This is illustrated when Blanca invites the pastor and Claudia, a woman from church, to dinner despite Julio’s distaste for it. As a result, Julio snaps at Blanca after her persistent preaching of a church where she is indirectly disrespected and “‘the women are treated as if they were just there to glorify their husbands, their children, and their pastor’” (Quiñonez, 130). Throughout the novel, Blanca is presented as a pious girl, as if she has not changed from the young schoolgirl that Julio fell in love with when he was young.
Not only does Diaz write novels and short stories, but he also takes action towards exposing the problems that Dominican people especially women face everyday. There might be some people who consider Diaz to be an Antifeminist and also a disgrace to his country, the Dominican Republic, but the only thing that Diaz is doing with his writing is exposing the reality of what its meant to be an immigrate from another country and how machismo affects Feminism in Latin cultures. Diaz shows his feminism by exposing machismo and what women in Latin cultures deal with everyday. Machismo is a term used to describe the dominant male behavior in Latin cultures. Machismo can also be describe as a man objectifying a women as a
Thesis: In the texts Bad boy by Walter Dean Myers and I was a skinny tomboy kid by Alma Luz Villanueva both authors develop the theme of through \ and childhood challenges In the first text, Bad Boy, the message is that the boy felt scared because In the second text, I was a skinny tomboy.
The preconceived ideas within social classes and races predetermines what people think of others. After reading the story we can draw the conclusion about the dateable young girls and advises the reader to take advantage of the limited knowledge of the girls leading to sexual relations. Although to cover the authors tracks at the end of the publication, Diaz begins to use an educative tone to issue a warning that his advice may not always work and to not follow the rules
This chapter focuses on the depiction of prejudice, oppression and brutality in the novel under study. By analyzing the content of Black Boy we come to know about the different types of hardships and discrimination as experienced by the Richard Wright. 3.1 POVERTY AND HUNGER The text throws light on the neediness and the starvation as experienced by the black characters that are monetarily disempowered by the afflictions of racial segregation. The black population is deprived the right for equivalent work prospects.
In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the Dominican culture is told through a stereotypical Dominican named Yunior. As stated in the title, the novel discusses Oscar Wao’s brief life through his family’s curse called Fukú. The history of his family is presented through their downfalls in love, which overtime accumulates into a burden for Oscar to experience the same events his family members had once experienced. This Fukú that has been lurking within the Cabral family’s history from the Dominican Republic to the United States is commonly found through dysfunctional relationships between men and women. The known concept in relationships called love transforms into a corrupted power source for abuse based on the
Victor Rios begins chapter six by describing the way the Latino boys he studied used masculinity as a rehabilitative tool. He describes how the boys are constantly “questioning” each other’s manhood as a way of proving their own masculinity. “The boys’ social relations with one another and with community members were saturated with expressions and discourses of manhood” (pg.125). Rios continues to describe the affects criminalization and its gendered practices has influenced these young boy’s mentality of what it means to be masculine. In chapter six, the author explains that although the boys had easy access to weapons, they rarely used them because of their clear understanding the consequences associated with such violence.
Because of the jacket, the boy is unpopular and treated poorly. However, in his mind, more than outside it, he is very ugly. In middle school, he was bullied and hung out with the “ugly boys” at recess because he had a poor attitude about his jacket. These conflicts were born when he got a hideous jacket that he wasn 't expecting. Soto says, “in fifth and sixth grades when you either danced like a champ or pressed yourself against a greasy wall, bitter as a penny...”
From the reading, I understand that in today’s culture that there are still race relations. Even though both groups of boys came from the same educational background and the same impoverished living conditions. I believe his study and findings are still prevalent in today’s society. In this essay, I will be breaking down the parts and discussing social conditions, poverty, self-esteem and motivation between two “groups’’, the Hallway Hangers and the Brothers.
In the novels, We The Animals by Justin Torres and Soledad by Angie Cruz the narrators’ relationship to men is influenced by the behavior and interactions with their families. The role that men play in the life of the unnamed narrator in We The Animals is based around his coming to terms with his sexuality, and how his sexuality makes him an outsider within his family. Likewise, in the novel Soledad, the titular character’s perception of men is shaped by not only her family, but also Dominican culture. Similarly, Soledad like the narrator from We The Animals is also an outsider in her family because she is distant and she is pursing higher education.