1.How does Kincaid create conflict or tension in “Girl”?
2. What did Kafka try to express through the metamorphosis of Gregor? Explain an underlying theme within the text using quotes as support

Junot Diaz has created quite a lot of buzz within my circle of friends, but I never got to read any of the recommendations that I had received from them. Now I know what the hype is all about. Finally a piece by a Dominican like myself —the use of language was enjoyable because it depicted our speech impeccably, so it was a breeze to read. Overall I found his writing to be enjoyable, it felt very conversational and realistic. My friends and I tend to speak in Spanglish from time to time and Diaz’ portrayed that perfectly—I think many bilinguals have this issue. The switch from English to subtle hints of Spanish made it feel as though a friend was re-telling a story to me. The story line was also one that reflected the lives of many Hispanic youths who live in an impoverished neighborhood—drug dealing, theft, military recruiters trying to get them to join the military, trespassing troublemakers, etc.

A portion of the reading that I particularly found interesting was the beginning. Junot undoubtedly knows how to keep his reader interested. He starts the piece with an instant hook:

“My mother tells me Beto’s home, waits for me to say something, but I keep watching the TV. Only when she’s in bed do I put on my jacket and swing through the neighborhood to see. He’s a pato now but two years ago we were friends and he would walk into the apartment without knocking, his heavy voice rousing my mother from the Spanish of her room and drawing me up from the basement, a voice that crackled and made you think of uncles or grandfathers.”

After reading the boldfaced text, I instantly questioned why Yunior stopped being Beto’s friend, and I somewhat knew that this was a foreshadowing to a story that would be told later in the text. Yunior’s quick introduction of Beto a pato was interesting to me and hilarious to say the least. Then later in the text we see that Beto somewhat took advantage of Yunior during a session of porn watching, but was it really taking advantage of him since Yunior’s reaction wasn’t one that you’d expect from someone who would be resisting?

My interpretation of this text is that it’s a story of a troubled kid, one who is drowning in poverty, confusion and disbelief. Yunior retells his friendship with Beto vividly and somehow seems like they were great memories of his. My personal opinion is that Yunior in fact felt something for Beto, but because it was probably looked at as “wrong”, he decided to distance himself from him in order to avoid disappointment or disapproval from his family. Yunior’s character is one who is afraid of change and it is evident within the text.

The scene that I’d particularly like to discuss is the one pertaining to marriage. I found it to be quite amusing how the old lady firmly believed that marriage should be arranged by parents. In fact, some cultures continue to believe that to this day. Overall, this scene shows how a feudal system can be detrimental to life, which in turn creates a huge obstacle between two people whom genuinely love each other and desire to get married. Evidently, without a doubt, just as most forbidden love stories, a tragedy occurs. How would you react if something of this nature happened to you?

Through this portion of the reading, there is an emphasis on power and on how living up to expect ions is the route to take. It is clear that freedom wasn’t granted because the “authoritative figures” of these families seemed to live by a “my way or the highway” motto. I understand that rules have been established to keep some kind of order, but if we were all to live this way, with fear of doing things our own way and limit ourselves strictly to what our families think is the “right” way, life would be boring. The beauty in life is freedom. We are able to explore our own desires and create the story that we want to create, instead of a living through the predetermined one that was created by our elders.

Oh dearest enlightenment, we meet for the umpteenth time. I can sum up this whole epoch with just one quote: “Have the courage to use your own reason- that is the motto of enlightenment”. Wasn’t that short and simple, yet straight to the point? Definitely. Kant’s goal was merely to encourage individuals to begin thinking for themselves. Apparently, prior to the enlightenment era, there was a laziness epidemic that crippled the minds of many. People weren’t considered wise because they never challenged themselves, they were basically living off of the labor of others rather than their own. I mean it all makes sense doesn’t it? If I can get some one else to do something for me, why should I even bother attempting it, right? It’s like having an all around the clock maid—so handy! That’s the mentality that many had at the time, and oddly enough, to this day it remains an issue.

For instance, every semester a syllabus is handed to students, which contains the expectancies of the class in regards to academic integrity and along with that, it states the repercussions that come with disobeying the established policies. That proves that people will always be encouraged to think for themselves instead of using the ideas of others. That was on a whole other tangent (tends to happen often whilst discussing a rather dull historic topic), but I thought it somewhat relevant? Maybe?Well to sum this all up, I believe that there will always be a source of influence in our lives, so our own “reason” will continuously be skewed. We just Kant stop, and won’t stop taking the “easy” way out.

-Shirley Mieses