Calvin Smith
Nicole Smith
World Literature II
January 9, 2015
Drowning: Metaphor or Reality

When people, particularly novelist, begin to write about these events it’s called contemporary world literature. In Junot Diaz’s story “Drown”, contemporary literature is clearly shown through the characters Yunior and his mother. The characters issues and how they deal with or “drowning” in them is a way to see contemporary literature used.
In Drown, the characters are drowning in the everyday events of their lives which recur because of their lack of purpose, or direction. “Drown” is a short story about a boy named Yunior who is currently living with his mother in a run-down apartment and who wants to be with Yunior’s father, who left her to be with another woman in Florida. The mother continues to dream fruitlessly of a reunion with her husband, even though she will not risk taking the measures she needs to make it happen. She will neither cut off conversation with him completely and move on, nor accept the invitation he gives her. According to the story, he has told her, "if she moves down there (Florida) he'll leave the woman he's living with" (1246). She remains in limbo, suffocating, instead of moving in one direction or the other. Though she remains home she misses the man, because she would still reach out to him hoping one day he would come back. Even on the phone with him, “she sounds hurt or nervous” (1246).
Another thing that made the narrator feel as if he was drowning was his confusion over his sexuality. His homophobic experience with Beto, his friend, was a lot for him to deal with. He says, “My mother tells me Beto’s home, waits for me to say something, but I keep watching the TV” (1241). It is clear that he is not interested in talking to Beto; it later becomes clear that the homophobic experience is why he is not concerned with Beto’s homecoming. Even on the phone with him," she sounds hurt or nervous” (1246). Cleary she is drowning in her own fears and sorrows. With a father not being around and his friend/lover Beto great life mocking him, he results to selling drugs and other criminal acts. Younior is drowning in the pressure to provide and be a better man.
Relating towards the title, the word drowning is a metaphor with a high realistic meaning. Normally people associate drowning with water; however, it also means to feel short of breath. That is just what the main character, Yunior, feels when he hears that his old friend is back in town. It is also what the mother feels when Yunior’s father leaves. Facing these problems in their own way has caused them to drown in their thoughts. Both Yunior and his mother are avoiding their main issues in order to solve them. Realistically, real people actually do this themselves in order to get suppress their problems.