While I initially searched for a poem or short story online, admittingly out of convenience, I did not find any works that piqued my interest. So, I went to the library and stumbled upon The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, a book compiled by Lex Williford and Michael Martone, which is comprised of a collection of fifty short stories since the 1970’s. While the cover is nothing too impressive, I noticed that out of the fifty total works, only approximately three or four appeared to be written by authors of color. The story that caught my attention was “Fiesta 1980” by Junot Diaz. I have not read many stories, written in English, by authors of Dominican descent. Getting a different perspective piqued my interest. In addition
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Since my essay was centered around the topic of the immigrant experience, I felt the characters in this story may be sharing their experiences of being in America as well, and I wanted to see what their viewpoints were like. This ended up being correct as the main character, Yunior, had come from a third world country. Toward the end of the story, Yunior would reflect back on how it seemed America had changed his father (referred to as Papi by the character) after witnessing the dwindling relationship between his mother and father. He thought, “Maybe I knew how it would all end up in a few years, Mami without Papi” (253). This is a similar consequence that both Ifemelu and Henry had faced with their own relationships. It was these elements and connections that influenced me to choose this short story to …show more content…
The reason I recommend this short story, “Fiesta 1980”, to readers is because it is quite an interesting and good read. While there are several themes that the main character, Yunior, confronts, such as immigration and family, the story mainly revolves around how Yunior deals with the knowledge that his father is having an affair with a mistress. In addition, I find it might be noteworthy to readers that Diaz intersperses Spanish words throughout Yunior’s narration, to remind the reader of his heritage and immigration from Santo Domingo. From the beginning, it is apparent that Yunior’s father is a controlling, patriarchal type character. When the whole family was set and ready to depart for a fiesta, they had to wait for the father, who arrived at the last minute. Yunior was aware that if they had not been dressed and ready when his father walked in, they would have been beaten. When the mother tried to talk to her husband, he held his hand up “and headed right into the shower. Rafa gave me the look and I gave it back to him; we both knew Papi had been with the Puerto Rican woman he was seeing and wanted to wash off the evidence quick” (244). At this moment in time, Yunior’s mother is unaware of her husband’s affair. In fact, it is
Since my essay was centered around the topic of the immigrant experience, I felt the characters in this story may be sharing their experiences of being in America as well, and I wanted to see what their viewpoints were like. This ended up being correct as the main character, Yunior, had come from a third world country. Toward the end of the story, Yunior would reflect back on how it seemed America had changed his father (referred to as Papi by the character) after witnessing the dwindling relationship between his mother and father. He thought, “Maybe I knew how it would all end up in a few years, Mami without Papi” (253). This is a similar consequence that both Ifemelu and Henry had faced with their own relationships. It was these elements and connections that influenced me to choose this short story to …show more content…
The reason I recommend this short story, “Fiesta 1980”, to readers is because it is quite an interesting and good read. While there are several themes that the main character, Yunior, confronts, such as immigration and family, the story mainly revolves around how Yunior deals with the knowledge that his father is having an affair with a mistress. In addition, I find it might be noteworthy to readers that Diaz intersperses Spanish words throughout Yunior’s narration, to remind the reader of his heritage and immigration from Santo Domingo. From the beginning, it is apparent that Yunior’s father is a controlling, patriarchal type character. When the whole family was set and ready to depart for a fiesta, they had to wait for the father, who arrived at the last minute. Yunior was aware that if they had not been dressed and ready when his father walked in, they would have been beaten. When the mother tried to talk to her husband, he held his hand up “and headed right into the shower. Rafa gave me the look and I gave it back to him; we both knew Papi had been with the Puerto Rican woman he was seeing and wanted to wash off the evidence quick” (244). At this moment in time, Yunior’s mother is unaware of her husband’s affair. In fact, it is