Dr. Martin
10 November 2016
Analysis of Macho Masculinity and the Portrayal of Accompanied Ideals in Drown Submersion into a culture determined by one’s birth elicits behavior that is taught and practiced in childhood, young adulthood, and subsequently adulthood. If there are no aversions from common behaviors practiced by peers and authority figures, impressionable children and explorative young adults continue the tradition. Specifically, Latin American men have been observed to portray heightened masculinity, which instills a sense of ultimate dominance in their behavior towards women and peers. In Junot Díaz’s Drown, men are plagued by the macho ideal of sexual prowess, superiority, and emotional detachment. Overall adherence …show more content…
In this short story, Yunior is the narrator telling about a party that he went to when his father was still in the Dominican Republic. In this story, the reader learns that their father, Papi, had a Puerto Rican mistress that was only a mystery to his wife. Yunior mentions how he viewed the affair by stating, “When we ate dinner at her house, the few times Papi had taken us over there, we still acted like nothing was out of the ordinary” (39). He then goes on to mention that they never told their mother, which could be explained by the sheer fear of their father or the simple fact that it was not too uncommon for men to cheat on their wives. The fact that Papi brings his children to interact with his mistress reiterates the lack of respect that Papi had for their mother. Rafa and Yunior were forced to accept their father’s infidelity because they had no voice when around Papi due to him being very dominant and impersonal. Papi is a constant reminder of a macho male by exhibiting immense sexual prowess. We find out that later on in his life when he is in America, he marries a woman named Nilda and she bears a child as told in the short story, Negocios (186, 192). The commitment of marriage to another woman secured Papi financially, but neglecting his family in the Dominican Republic created a great strain due to the physical and emotional distance that he