- Building on our work together on Wednesday, please choose one moment from “Fiesta, 1980” that illustrates something important about one of the characters or about a relationship between two characters and describe that moment in a comment on this post. Your comment should include a description of what happens in the example you’ve selected and an explanation of what you think it reveals about the character or characters involved. Please post your comment by 12pm on Monday.
- On Wednesday, we will begin discussing “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” by Z.Z. Packer. You can find the story under the “Texts” tab above.
38 thoughts on “Homework for Monday, October 16th”
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One moment I chose from “Fiesta, 1980” is when Yunior is watching his parents enjoying the party, but starts to talk about his mom’s life in the past compared to now. Yunior describes his mom as someone who looks like the main character in the scene. Yunior never spoke badly about his mother and it shows the caring relationship he has for his mother. Yunior seems to have a more strong emotional attachment to his mother than his father. When his mom smiles at him he wants to run and hug her and expresses the love he has for her. Yunior thinks about his dad with the infidelity he can’t bring himself to tell his mother because he doesn’t want to see her in pain. Yunior has a soft side for his mother and wants to protect her even if it means keeping a secret from her. With this secret, he knows he is more considered about how his mother will be left rather than his father. I think this also shows that Yunior will prefer being on his mom’s side rather than his father’s. It illustrates the different relationships he has with both parents.
This is an important moment. I love the idea of the mom – in a previous chapter of her life – getting to be a “main character” – while in the context of family, she seems more like a supporting player.
One moment from “Fiesta 1980” that illustrates something important about one of the characters also about a relationship between two characters is when the party is over and Yunior and his family is on the car ride back home and he wakes to see his parents having an actual bonding moment when his dad is showing affection towards his mom by having his hand on her knee. A similar moment is when Yunior’s dad is being kind to him on their individual car rides. Demonstrating the fact that Yunior’s dad might be a person that does not like to show any kind of public admiration towards anybody but much rather prefers to only act lovey or soft when nobody is around to witness it. He might be always feeling the need to show off he has no emotions and or feelings by depicting a lack of loving attributes. Yunior’s dad might have picked this up from his own traumatic childhood and the adults or people around him growing up.
Stick to just a single moment, as requested. Interesting that you see this as an indication that Yunior’s father may be more vulnerable and more emotionally connected than he appears.
Focusing on the first few pages of Fiesta 1980, we get a lot of detail about the narrator and his father. When the narrator explains who his father is, we get the sense that the father is very strict and scares his children. Not only is he aggressive towards his kids, but he is also cheating on his wife. The significance of this explanation shows that the father isn’t quite happy at home and has a very distant relationship with his family. He is especially hard on Yunior, who gets car sick and usually throws up in the brand new Volkswagen, which angers the father.
When Yunior speaks about his father, he leaves the father out of the equation when talking about his family. On the first page, he says, “Actually, my pops decided, but everybody – meaning Mami, tia Yrna, tio Miguel, and their neighbors…” And again, on the next page, he says, “We – meaning me, my brother, my little sister, and Mami – waited for Papi to finish his shower.” These sentences emphasize the distance between the father and his family. The father is most likely in his own world, dealing with his own emotions and expressing himself with such aggression when he speaks to his family. Throughout the story, we see how the father raises his tone at the kids and gets mad at Yunior for throwing up in the car, something Yunior can’t really control. Even with him cheating on his wife, it shows a disconnect in the love that he once had for her, which can be seen through the yelling and the way he speaks to his wife.
Not sure what your “one moment” is here – but I appreciate these insights into the family dynamics!
As I read “Fiesta 1980” by Junot Diaz, I admired the scene when Yunior wakes up from a nap in the car to see his parents being slightly affectionate to each other. This scene may help Yunior see that his father can be affectionate, but rather prefers it to be private. I get the sense that Yunior may have a complete different perspective of his father than his mother does, and it can affect the way that their relationship is the way it is. Yunior does not have the best relationship with his father and it roots from the way the father treats him. Seeing his parents being affectionate, Yunior can picture how loving and “picture perfect” his life would have been if his father was a better person. Since Yunior often see’s his father cheating, it gets in the way of how he sees his parents and their love for each other because he knows his father’s may not be as genuine as his mothers.
I like the idea that this moment is a snapshot of “what might have been” – if Yunior’s father were a better, more faithful partner to his mother.
One moment I chose from “Feista, 1980” is when Tia Yrma took Yunior out of the party to give him food and started asking him how it was at home, how his mother was, and if there were a lot of fights. Yunior chose not to tell his tia anything out of fear that his father would find out or that something would happen to his mother. This illustrates the fear Yunior has for his father. I think he’s worried his father will hit him or blame his mother because Yunior is talking about their family problems to other people. It also shows how Yunior has a better relationship with his mother than his father. As for Tia Yrma, this shows how much she cares for Yunior’s mother; she wants to protect her from his father. I’m guessing she’s assuming something is going on at home because of how abusive he is towards Yunior.
Or maybe she is suspicious because of something her sister has said? Or she is just worried? In any case, this is another example of Yunior keeping quiet about what is really going on in his family.
When reading a big moment that had a huge impact is between Yunior and his father is when his father took him to his mistress house. It impacted their relationship in a big way. This moment traumatized Yunior: he was very unaware of the situation and environment. His father took him, and Yunior stood in the living room watching TV while his father had sex with his mistress upstairs. This affair impacted the way he looked at his father. It reveals about Yunior’s father is that he doesn’t care. He feels as if he can do anything he wants without having consequence. It shows that he doesn’t respect his wife and his children. It damages the relationship between him and his father while strengthening his relationship with his mother, someone he is closer to.
I agree with you that this is a pivotal moment and that it reveals that Yunior has a real lack of regard for his sons as well as his wife. Good point!
As I read “Fiesta, 1980”, the relationship between Mami (Yunior’s mother) and Tia Yrma (Aunt) made an impression on me. Tia seemed to be concerned of Yuniors Mom and what was going on at home. The way they were discretely chattering at the party and the way Tia interrogated Yunior about the environment at home made the impression that they are like the typical Dominican comadres that tell each other everything and have really close relationship in that sense. A specific moment was when they were in the party with all the music and dancing happening and Yunior observed that besides all that they were side by side and having ongoing conversation most of the night. It revealed to me their close relationship and based on Tia’s worry it showed how much she cared for Yuniors Mom and the dynamic that exists at home. While leaving me to wonder what or who they were talking about at the party.
Yes, this is another place where we wonder just how much the mother knows about what her husband is up to, and we definitely get the sense that Tia is worried about her sister.
One moment that I found as an important detail to the characters relationship in “Fiesta 1980” is where Yunior speaks about his mother, and how he it was difficult to try and picture her younger and without his father, alone. The way he describes the one photograph he was able to see of his mother as a young single woman without his father was very interesting to me, as he makes her sound almost like a different person entirely. As if she had lived a different life before meeting his father. From the way he described her, as a reader you seem to visualize her as almost the main character in the photo, drawing in all attention with a louder presence. But when we read about her current self, she is always quiet and docile to her husband. I feel like this reveals what Yunior’s mother has seemed to lose in her marriage to his father; which was herself, her own person and just become a wife and mother. And I believe this further ties into the importance of the characters because I feel this is the main reason why Yunior does not tell her mother about the affair. Because he cannot see her, the person she was presently, alone. She was dependent on his father, he was all she had. So what good would breaking them up do for either of them. In its own way, it shows the reader the care Yunior has for his mother, and how he wants to protect her, even if it’s not the honest way to go about it.
I agree that there is a lot to unpack in this moment. I particularly like the idea of Yunior being able to imagine his mother as she was before marriage and to see her as a “main character.”
After reading “Fiesta 1980”, I noticed is that the relationship between Yunior and his father is really detrimental to Yunior. One specific moment in the story was when Yunior talked about how he always threw up in his father’s car but also talked about he had a strong stomach. I think that this symbolizes the relationship between the Yunior and his father where Yunior is always getting hurt. When Yunior’s dad brought Yunior to his mistress house, it really traumatized Yunior. Conversely, Yunior’s relationship with his mother seems much more compassionate and tenderhearted, as he never talked poorly about his mother.
Good. So if I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that the stomach issues are a physical manifestation of the way that Yunior is suffering from his father’s behavior. Is that right?
Yunior and his family are returning home after the party when he suddenly awakens to witness his parents sharing a real moment of affection by his dad placing his hand on his mother’s knee. Another instance is when Yunior’s dad shows him kindness while they are each driving separately. Showing that Yunior’s dad could prefer to just appear adoring or gentle when no one is present to observe it, as opposed to enjoying to display any form of public appreciation toward someone. He may constantly feel the need to display his lack of sentiments and/or emotions by displaying a lack of loving characteristics.
Shemar, The assignment asked you to choose a single moment and to discuss it in detail. Please do the assignment as described, rather than relying on what other students have already posted and using that as your guide instead of doing the work yourself. Please come to class ready to discuss the text.
One moment from “Fiesta, 1980” illustrates something important about the relationship between Rafa and Yunior. Rafa and Yunior go to the basement to talk, where their parents can’t hear them. They talk about papi’s mistress. Yunior asks Rafa why he never told him he knew about the mistress. This indicates the two brothers don’t talk much about their personal lives to each other. Throughout the story, Rafa is seen as mean and careless towards Yunior. However, they both share a common ground of what should be kept private due to respect and not wanting to make things in their family worse. They both decide to keep the knowledge of the mistress private from their mother. This shows that although the two brothers may not get along well with each other, they both know some things should be kept private between each other.
I’m glad you chose to write about the relationship between the two brothers. On the one hand, this situation kind of makes them allies, but on the other hand, we see a lot of aggression in the way they treat each other.
one moment I choose from the story that really stood out to me was towards the end of the passage where the dad threaten yunior to not eat. The reason I choose this moment from the story because it really shows the hatred between the two. As his aunt was handing him a paper plate the dad took it from him and insisted on him not eating. He threatened to beat him up or anyone else if they were to give him food. This filled yunior with frustration towards his father and in his own words “I wanted to kill him”. This shows perfectly the hate they have for each other and this is establish when they consciously know that they both hate each other because in the text its said on page 37 “I wanted to kill him and he must have sensed it because he gave my head a little shove”. Yunior disapproves his fathers actions like the way he treats he family and his secret affair and the father is always mistreating the family and is fed up with yunior constantly throwing up in the car. So this moment shows when their feeling towards each other clashes proving a hateful relationship between yunior and the father.
Maybe we can think symbolically about what it means to deny someone food???
In “fiesta 1980”, I chose 2 scenes. One of them was when papi drove yunior around town, around the time when junior met the Puerto Rican women. He was trying to cure his vomiting and junior noticed that his father treated him better alone like he was his son. Another one was when papi didn’t want anyone to give his son yunior any food in the party because of his puking. He specifically told him that if he eaten and/or if anyone gave him any food he would beat him and the person. These 2 moments show the difference in father/son connection. When yunior and papi are alone we noticed that papi shown his son more attention by driving him around to mostly help him get over vomiting. He reveals his genuine and nicer side of himself in that way and it makes yunior feel like he is his father’s son when he doesn’t. However, when in public, papi wants to make sure that things aren’t a mess and doesn’t want his son to eat; he even threatens to beat him and anyone else if he is given food. This brings out the aggressive side of his father. I think papi doesn’t want to be embarrassed by juniors vomiting problem. Papi feels entitled to control his son and neglect him of his wants so that he can neglect the situation after trying to deal with it. He appears bitter with him and it makes us question if he really wants to rekindle the family relationship or be arrogant.
I think that you make an important point when you suggest that Yunior’s father wants to control him. This may be part of why the repeated vomiting makes him so angry. Some things can’t be controlled.
Yunior goes with his father to the home of a Puerto Rican woman who his father is having an affair with. Yunior recognizes that his father is being unfaithful to his mother which shatters Yunior’s view of his father. Yunior is confronted with the fact that his father is complicated and flawed and that the world is more complicated than he had previously thought. This experience marks the loss of Yunior’s innocence and causes him to think about the complexities of the adult world.
Good. How do we make sense of Yunior’s reaction to this visit? What does he do with this knowledge?
A moment in “Fiesta, 1980” that caught my attention was when Yunior’s Tia takes him “to get ice ” with her at the store since he was not eating. Instead of actually going to the store Yunior’s aunt leads him to the floor and feeds him three pastelitos. This moment revealed how caring Tia Yrma was with Yunior and how she sympathized with him in the moment. Yunior says that his aunt did not have kids, but you could tell she really wanted some so she treated him like her own. Later on, in the same moment Tia starts asking Yunior how everything is at home. Her asking him about his home environment leads me to infer that she might already have an idea about what is going on just by seeing how the mother and father act around each other and the kids. Yunior decides that he would not say anything to protect his family. The relationship between Yunior and his Tia can be described as not being one with full trust but by this moment in the short story it seems like his Tia will be one of his helpers from his father’s abuse later on in his life.
Why do you think Yunior chooses not to open up to his Tia?
One moment from “Fiesta, 1980” that illustrates something important about the relationship between Yunior and his dad is the car scene. Yunior mentions that he wouldn’t get car sick before his dad’s car was present. Therefore, his dad’s car was like a curse to him that would make him want to throw up if he was inside the vehicle. He also mentions in the text that he didn’t dare to look at his father in the eyes, but why would one be afraid to look at their own father in the eyes? This clearly shows the trauma and abuse that comes from his father. I’m guessing that Yunior gets sick in his dad’s car because he knows that consequences await if he throws up in his car. He is sick of his father; therefore, anything that reminds him or has a relation to his father makes him feel disgusted. Something else that I found important was when Yunior said that when he had thrown up in his father’s car, his father had to clean his puke, and he never cleans anything. This further supports the stereotype of classic Hispanic households in this text: an abusive father and a quiet, submissive mother who does anything for her husband. Just by him cleaning his son’s puke, made him feel disrespected since he’s “the man” of the house.
I love your suggestion that the carsickness is a manifestation of Yunior’s disgust at his father and his behavior.
In “Fiesta, 1980,” there’s a really important part where Abelard takes Yunior to the house of his girlfriend, Jacquelyn. This helps us see that Abelard feels remorse over what he did and wants to be sincere with his son. It shows that Abelard is a bit of a complicated character and he’s trying to make things right with Yunior, his son, even though he made some mistakes. This part helps us understand the tricky relationship between the father and son in the story. It’s a bit like when you see characters in TV shows or movies trying to make things right with their loved ones, even when they’ve made mistakes.
Felix, I am deeply troubled by your comment. In the volume in which “Fiesta, 1980” appears, there are other short stories about the same characters we encounter in “Fiesta, 1980”, but in the short story that you were assigned to read there is no mention of the father’s name or the name of his mistress. It is quite apparent, both here and in other assignments you have produced for this course, that you are not doing the work yourself, as you’ve been instructed, without referring to any online sources or AI platforms. Instead, you are submitting work that relies heavily on these sources, while pretending that it is 100% your own. As you are aware, this is a form of cheating and a serious violation of Baruch’s Code of Academic Integrity. I am required to report all violations of this sort to the Dean of Students, where it becomes part of your permanent file. Additionally, should you submit another assignment for this course that makes use of online or AI sources without acknowledging those sources, you will receive an F in this course. There is no room in this course for this kind of cheating. I hope that this is clear and that we will see a change in your habits moving forward.
One moment I chose from “Fiesta, 1980”, that caught my attention was when Rafa punched Yunior but whenever their father would start scolding Yunior to the point where he was going to slap him, Rafa moved away. Although the reader isn’t given too much information on Rafa, this moment illustrated that Rafa views himself as more masculine and superior than Yunior. To the point when he gets irritated with him, Rafa can just punch Yunior. As does the dad also does to Yunior, which he can be seen as the seen less to Rafa. However, once his father is about to hit Yunior, Rafa backs away. As if he’s afraid of his father, in this instance he is seen as fearful of what the outcome his his angry father will be. Rafa is conceited around his own brother but won’t think twice about getting into an altercation with his dad. Rafa is depicted as out-spoken however, when facing his dad, whether it’d be about his affair or seeing him getting angry at Yunior he seems reserved and the opposite of what he is with his brother.
I’m glad you chose to focus on the brothers. We can think about both boys’ behavior as being a reaction to the father’s behavior and to the example he’s set of what it means to be a man.
One moment i chose was Yuniors reaction to when papi took away his plate so he wouldn’t eat. Papi takes away his plate so that he wouldn’t throw up in his car later when they go back home. However, the way papi was yelling at him and threatening him to not eat unless he’d beat him is not okay. The way he treats Yunior is horrible in the sense that he doesnt act mike a parent. Any parent would feel concerned about the fact his child had only eaten once in the day and threw that up. But instead of worrying about that his father is worrying about his car. Yuniors reaction to papi not letting him eat was him furious at him in a way that absolutely shows no respect for him. “ i wanted to kill him” “ whats wrong with your dad? Letti asked. Hes a dick, i said.” This is the point of the story it solidified for me the way Yunior feels about his father. Its clear from this moment that he hates him and does not respect him but, he fears him. This moment makes it very clear for me that there is a very complicated relationship between Yunior and his father. It also leads me to question, does Papi even care for Yunior beyond just being father and son?
What do you think it means symbolically to try to prevent one’s child from eating or to actually withhold food from one’s child?