The homecoming of Beto, an old best friend, makes the narrator hesitant to reconnect. The narrators mother is surprised by this, but she doesn 't know about the true means of their relationship. The prospective reunion of the two stirs up memories of unsettling sexual encounters. In “Drown”, Junot Diaz tells a story of the blurred lines of attraction and the journey of a man revealing his homosexuality. Over the course of the story, the narrator slowly becomes aware of his true self. The use of windows symbolizes a passage through the narrators journey of fear, allowing him to find hope, and ultimately leading to the truth. First, the narrator uses the window as a passage, bringing him closer to the truth of his sexuality through fear.
…show more content…
The act of the abuelas looking down at the narrator creates an image of being scolded. The negativity coming out of the window evokes fear. The narrator then begins to question his enjoyment of the sexual acts with Beto. His internal struggle with his sexuality becomes more evident when describing the aftermath of a drunken night with his buddies. He describes how “Danny passes out in the back seat and Alex cranks the window down to keep the wind in his eyes” (511). By keeping the wind in his eyes he is trying to prevent seeing the changes he has been feeling. Going back and forth between reminiscing of sexual encounters and the present machismo he is portraying displays the confusion of the narrator. He refers to his sexuality as dangerous territory when saying that before he and his mother head out, “she drags us through the apartment to make sure the windows are locked” (507). Locking the window symbolizes the preventing of his true sexual identity from getting in. The event …show more content…
For example, he gets another reminder to make sure the windows are locked from his mother and states that “with the air conditioner on we never open the windows but I go through the routine anyway” (507). Undeterred by the topic of his sexuality being a closed subject in the household, he goes through his routine anyway. It is the routine of constantly fighting to cover his true sexuality. In addition, he speaks about the past and the way him and Beto “were raging then, crazy the way we stole, broke windows, the way we pissed on people 's steps and then challenged them to come out and stop us” (504). The breaking of the windows symbolizes the rebellion the narrator and Beto both took part in, showing that together they were unstoppable. It didn 't matter to either of them what everyone thought about their relationship. He wasn 't afraid of letting the sexual encounter with Beto happen, he was afraid of believing it was true. However, their sexual encounters excited him and he commences to accept it. He refers to Beto as a “pato” or gay man, and yet still manages to talk about him in admiration. While Beto is walking through that window and leaving the nest, the narrator is left behind and stuck in his dark secret. He envied the way Beto was living his life the way he wanted, despite his sexuality. In an attempt to reconnect with Beto the narrator says “I
The act of the abuelas looking down at the narrator creates an image of being scolded. The negativity coming out of the window evokes fear. The narrator then begins to question his enjoyment of the sexual acts with Beto. His internal struggle with his sexuality becomes more evident when describing the aftermath of a drunken night with his buddies. He describes how “Danny passes out in the back seat and Alex cranks the window down to keep the wind in his eyes” (511). By keeping the wind in his eyes he is trying to prevent seeing the changes he has been feeling. Going back and forth between reminiscing of sexual encounters and the present machismo he is portraying displays the confusion of the narrator. He refers to his sexuality as dangerous territory when saying that before he and his mother head out, “she drags us through the apartment to make sure the windows are locked” (507). Locking the window symbolizes the preventing of his true sexual identity from getting in. The event …show more content…
For example, he gets another reminder to make sure the windows are locked from his mother and states that “with the air conditioner on we never open the windows but I go through the routine anyway” (507). Undeterred by the topic of his sexuality being a closed subject in the household, he goes through his routine anyway. It is the routine of constantly fighting to cover his true sexuality. In addition, he speaks about the past and the way him and Beto “were raging then, crazy the way we stole, broke windows, the way we pissed on people 's steps and then challenged them to come out and stop us” (504). The breaking of the windows symbolizes the rebellion the narrator and Beto both took part in, showing that together they were unstoppable. It didn 't matter to either of them what everyone thought about their relationship. He wasn 't afraid of letting the sexual encounter with Beto happen, he was afraid of believing it was true. However, their sexual encounters excited him and he commences to accept it. He refers to Beto as a “pato” or gay man, and yet still manages to talk about him in admiration. While Beto is walking through that window and leaving the nest, the narrator is left behind and stuck in his dark secret. He envied the way Beto was living his life the way he wanted, despite his sexuality. In an attempt to reconnect with Beto the narrator says “I