The book “Drown” is a collection of many great short stories written by Dominican author Junot Diaz. Diaz uses the title of the collection “Drown”, to metaphorically demonstrate how some of the characters in the story may be sinking in their own depressions and disappointments.
There are three stories that are great examples of this. The first of the three being “Boyfriend”, which tells the story of Yunior, who is trying to get over a breakup with his last girlfriend by trying to get with a girl who lives in the apartment above him. The problem is that the girl has a boyfriend who she constantly fights with, while Yunior eavesdrops on their arguments. The second story is called “Aurora”. This is the story of an unnamed narrator who is in an …show more content…
Friedman uses the story “Fiesta, 1980” to analyze immigration in her article “Adultery and he immigrant Narrative”. She talks about how Yunior and her family move to the Bronx and adjust to their new lives in America. Friedman states, “ Yunior's mother's new life in America has changed her….the description of Yunior's mother--although not entirely flattering--gives the reader a sense that the Dominican woman transformed herself from an overly skinny, perhaps undernourished, immigrant woman (a flaca) to a well-fed, middle-class American woman who can afford to wear jewelry and cut her hair in a short, possibly nontraditional style. This transformation, although enabled by Papi's work in America, does not bring pleasure to Papi; rather, the changes he sees in his wife drive him away from her and into the arms of a woman who is Latina, ‘very thin’ and has a ‘narrow face’” ( Natalie J. Friedman 22). This shows how Yunior’s mother drowned herself in the life that she thought that she was supposed to be living since she moved to America. Yunior’s mother thought that expressing her Dominican culture was not attractive and not welcomed in America, so she changed the way she looked. This only backfired on her when Papi stopped taking a liking into her and wanted a new more Latina looking woman, which he eventually found. This describes how Yunior’s mother began to drown in her false beliefs of what the ideal American woman was suppose to look
There are three stories that are great examples of this. The first of the three being “Boyfriend”, which tells the story of Yunior, who is trying to get over a breakup with his last girlfriend by trying to get with a girl who lives in the apartment above him. The problem is that the girl has a boyfriend who she constantly fights with, while Yunior eavesdrops on their arguments. The second story is called “Aurora”. This is the story of an unnamed narrator who is in an …show more content…
Friedman uses the story “Fiesta, 1980” to analyze immigration in her article “Adultery and he immigrant Narrative”. She talks about how Yunior and her family move to the Bronx and adjust to their new lives in America. Friedman states, “ Yunior's mother's new life in America has changed her….the description of Yunior's mother--although not entirely flattering--gives the reader a sense that the Dominican woman transformed herself from an overly skinny, perhaps undernourished, immigrant woman (a flaca) to a well-fed, middle-class American woman who can afford to wear jewelry and cut her hair in a short, possibly nontraditional style. This transformation, although enabled by Papi's work in America, does not bring pleasure to Papi; rather, the changes he sees in his wife drive him away from her and into the arms of a woman who is Latina, ‘very thin’ and has a ‘narrow face’” ( Natalie J. Friedman 22). This shows how Yunior’s mother drowned herself in the life that she thought that she was supposed to be living since she moved to America. Yunior’s mother thought that expressing her Dominican culture was not attractive and not welcomed in America, so she changed the way she looked. This only backfired on her when Papi stopped taking a liking into her and wanted a new more Latina looking woman, which he eventually found. This describes how Yunior’s mother began to drown in her false beliefs of what the ideal American woman was suppose to look