How To Date A Browngirl Junot Diaz Summary

1003 Words3 Pages

Have you ever lost sight of your own identity or tried to be some one that you are not? I have. I left my mother’s country and moved to the United States which, to me, is a foreign land. It was hard for me to make even a single friend not to mention finding a place where I feels like I belong. Somehow along the way, I changed accordingly, to fit in with the people around me. After a while, I found that it was ludicrous of me to adjust myself to appease those around me. In Junot Diaz’s short story, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie,” the protagonist, Yunior, searches for a place where he can belongs and in turn he alters himself to fit in. Similar to my situation, he later determines that it was foolish to change himself …show more content…

Perhaps because he wants to impresses the girls whom he wants to date, nevertheless, he is hiding his own identity for the sake of others. He obscures any artifacts that related to where he was from. He also dresses up and comb his hair as a white boy would when he meets a white girl’s mother. Everything that he does is as if he had been instructed or following the society’s indirect rules. For an example, before a date, he waits at home for the girl’s parent to bring her over if she is an outsider. Then while on the date he thinks it is fine to take her to Wendy’s since she is not from around the area. After the date, if she is a halfie, he reckons that when her father picks her up there is no need to say good bye. His actions reveal to the readers that he has insecurities revolving around his culture and his true self, by hiding all of the monuments that will unveil his Dominican culture. Not only that, but if he is on a date, his actions and gestures would not reflect who he is, but rather who he thinks he should be. This shows that he is conflicting within himself to find his own true self. He wants to fit in, to belong to, yet he is altering himself to pacify others. He hides his identification and tries to be some one that he is not to find a place that he can connects and be a part

Open Document