...Junot Diaz’s Drown short stories exemplify the struggles of a Dominican Republic immigrant in the United States to achieve the American Dream, the concept of racism and the idea of hyper masculinity pushed upon a young boy growing up. Moreno, Marisel. Debunking Myths, Destabilizing Identities: A Reading of Junot Diaz’s "How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie." Fall2007, Vol. 26 Issue 2. This article is presented with an essay which analyzes the short story "How to Date a Brown girl, Black girl, White girl, or Halfie," by Junot Diaz. It reflects on racial ethics and how one generation can affect another by embedding in our psyche that racism is the fault of our ancestors; as it is something that has been handed down from generation to generation. I chose this article because the racism that the characters faced within Drown is quite similar to the ones faced by immigrants in the United States. There is a racial and ethnic tension among blacks and Hispanics which in some cases turns violent. Examples of this can be found in the short story that gives the name to the novel: Yunior´s mother relates to him of the attacks of African Americans on Hispanics in their neighborhood. Oulahan, Cain W. “The American dream deferred: family separation and immigrant visa adjudications at U.S. consulates abroad”. Marquette Law Review. Summer2011, Vol. 94 Issue 4, p1351-1379. 29p This article expounds...
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...Drown Drown, the compilation of ten short stories written by Junot Diaz narrates the experience of Hispanic Latino teenagers with different themes and from one part of life to another. He pictured the world of Drown as a rough, violent, poor and seemingly hopeless experiences. The compilation of stories narrated by Yunior tells his stories from different points of view of life. The events and experiences mentioned in this novel by Diaz are what most Hispanic teenagers go through. As the novel begins with “The fact that I am writing you in English already falsifies what I wanted to tell you.” (Drown). This epigraph in beginning by Gustavo Perez Firmat gives a clue of focusing Hispanic community. After reading the whole book my question is this book merely story telling or autobiographical? This question came to my mind by relating Diaz’s interview in Colbert’s show. Stephen Colbert, the host of show when asked him how he came to America, Diaz answered that his father first came to New York, settled here and called them over. Diaz also mentioned that he saw his dad the first time as he was away from family and once they landed to America his father took them to New Jersey which was weird according to Diaz. Same scenario was somewhat presented in beginning of Drown but through Yunior- the narrator. Diaz used the specific words and some symbols which the reader can almost feel the story as if it is real. Diaz, who was born in Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic and migrated...
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...American actor, Luke Benward, explains “If you don't stand up to your fears, have bravery, loyalty, and you don't have friends, you'll never win. You'll never feel better about yourself.” Although fears are hard to face, it’s often worth the struggle to stand up to fears. In Junot Diaz’s short story collection, Drown, the main character Yunior and his family from the Dominican Republic, often come face to face with their fears in the United States, but can’t take their stand. In “Negocios,” Yunior’s father immigrates to America and struggles to earn enough money to bring his family over, and ends up cheating on Yunior’s mother. Yunior later connects with this woman. In “Fiesta, 1980,” Yunior faces his harsh cheating father while deliberating...
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...When a person thinks about the idea of the American Dream, the first thing that comes to mind is the notion that everyone is considered equal. Everyone has the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. What is the exact definition for the American Dream? It is defined as the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. The concept of the American Dream originates from the 1920’s. In an article written by John Archer, the term “self-made man” combined with a hint of success and riches gave birth to what we now know as the American (Archer 11). From that day forward, this “Dream” is the inspiration for everything U.S. citizens do in their...
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