Comparison Of Masculinity In Fiesta 1980 By Junot Diaz

Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American writer whose collection of short stories Drown tells the story of immigrant families in the urban community of New Jersey. His short story “Fiesta, 1980” focuses on Yunior, an adolescent boy from Dominican Republic and his relationship with his father. On the other hand, Piri Thomas was a great Latino writer from Puerto-Rico whose memoir Down These Mean Streets tells his life story as an adolescent residing in Harlem and the challenges he faces outside in the neighborhood and at home with his father. Both Diaz and Thomas in different ways explore the dynamics of father-son relationships in their work. Furthermore, both expose masculinity as a social construct.
In the short story “Fiesta, 1980” by Junot Diaz, the main character Yunior suffers from car sickness which causes him to vomit all over his father’s newly acquired Volkswagen van. His father is portrayed as cold, argumentative and somewhat abusive not only to him but also the rest of the family. An example of this father’s abuse is seen when the

Just like Yunior, Piri who is the first child of his family also has a tense relationship with his father. He too wonders why his father treats him differently from his other siblings. He feels targeted which can be seen when an incident occurs and Poppa beats Piri for knocking down the coffee machine even though it was his brother Jose who pushed it; and Piri was only trying to prevent it from falling. Piri also practices masculinity in order to mask his true feelings. This is observed in his change of character when he is with his friends and when is alone with his thoughts. Piri describes hanging on the block as a “sort of science” which requires him to put on mask of masculinity in order to be approved and respected in el Barrio. One of the ways he does this is to brag about his sexual encounters and prove to his friends that he is a “ladies