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.