Children of Latino descent that are born in America are subject to many different social pressures. The main reason for this is that they have a hard time distinguishing what culture to identify more with, their Latino side or their American side. Due to this confusion, most Latino children have a rougher time dealing with social pressures such as peer pressure, family expectations, drugs, sex, alcohol and popularity. Junot Diaz, a Dominican author presents these pressures of Latino adolescent growth in a unique way through the novel Drown.
Doing research on the biography of Diaz, he was born in Villa Juana a barrio in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His father abandoned his family in the mid 1980’s. Diaz also immigrated from DR to Parlin NJ, and he writes in his novel about how the conflicts between American culture and Dominican culture stem deeper into family expectations. The father is expected to provide for the family, but when Yunior’s family move to America, they find out that Yunior’s father started a new family. The family also expected Yunior to take as many opportunities as he possibly could, but Yunior falls into temptations by being a troublemaker. Diaz sets the tone of this story vividly by showing the readers false, glittered impression that Dominican families have about the American dream. Yunior’s family expected everything to unfold according to their hopes and succeed, but their dreams have been abruptly disturbed as soon as the family contacted unfamiliar territory.
The theme of peer pressure presents itself within the actions of Yunior when Diaz describes in the story how Yunior and Beto steal, break windows, piss on people’s steps and challenge them to come and stop them. Diaz is suggesting here with Yunior’s decisions that Yunior cares more about trying to assimilate with the American culture and gaining acceptance of his friends rather than keeping the family’s values of studying and doing well in school. By showing us Yunior’s bad decisions and behaviors, readers can understand that many Dominican immigrants fall victim to this type of lifestyle where the immigrants subconsciously seek to gain recognition and approval.
I also feel that Latino Children do have a hard time assimilating to a more americanized culture and thats because of their older generations in a way prevent them. Being a latino I have seen how Latino parents have a hard time accepting that their kid is gay, due to the fact that they believe men are suppose to be these strong, straight persona, and that they are suppose to protect, provide and be leader of the family. A “machismo” affect is placed on Latino Boys and being gay goes against being “macho.” I felt like junior knew he had to be head on the family and had to be the “macho” of the house since the father left them. Him staying back to look after the mom, showed “machismo” because he didn’t want to leave his mom like his father did, showing he was more of a man than his own father ever was.
I find your comparison between Díaz’s and Yunior’s background very interesting. Diaz may have chose to give the protagonist a similar background to his own because he has experienced these difficulties firsthand. It is apparent that he wants to send a powerful message to the reader about social pressures and cultural struggle. I agree with the possibility that some of Yuinor’s misconduct has stemmed from his father walking out and starting a new family. On top of that, Yunior is an adolescent child growing up as a minority who is not comfortable with his sexual orientation. My question is, how come Yunior did not choose to follow the same path as Beto?
Also, you mentioned that Yunior has the habit of being a troublemaker, however, Beto has the same misconduct while also attending college and feeling more comfortable with his sexual orientation. What do you think is stopping Yunior from taking a similar path, and rather expressing his hatred towards Beto for taking steps forward?
I enjoyed reading your blog post and it was interesting to learn about your views and outside information on the author. It got me thinking about the short story in a different way.
For the question that Tyler has, I think the reason that Yuinor doesn’t go to college is due to poverty. His father is absent, and he has the responsibility to take care of his mother. Although he seems a troublemaker, I don’t feel he ever thinks to abandon his mother. From p1244, we can see that his mother doesn’t go out much and Yuinor gives her mother money to shop, so I don’t think his mother will earn money for the family. And “back in the day” (1244), his father would give her mother a hundred dollars at the end of each summer to buy clothes. But his father has a new family and doesn’t go home, so I think his father doesn’t provide much money for Yuinor’s family any more. The environment they live also shows that they live in a poor and unsafe area. One reason that his mother always double check whether the window is closed is because the place they live isn’t safe. I feel that because of family issue, he doesn’t have the money to go to college. In page 1248, it says that Beto’s parents “worked nights”, so Beto’s parents both with him and they all work. So Beto can go to college. Kim mentioned that Dominican families have hard time to decide which culture to identify more with, I think I can feel Yuinor is struggling between cultures and values. The family doesn’t provide much good to him, and he also can’t escape from current situation.