How To Date A Browngirl Junot Diaz Summary

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

and that he will not truly belong by doing that. In a sense he experiences men vs society conflict as he seems to struggles to find a place to belong, though, his biggest conflict is versus himself.
Throughout the story the readers can tell that there are many stereotypes about the mentioned categories, brown girl, black girl, white girl, and halfie. For instance, “If she’s a white girl you know you’ll get at least a hand job” (3), “If a girl is local don’t sweat it. She’ll flow over when she’s good and ready” (4), and “A halfie will tell you that her parents met in the Movement” (13). From the statements above the readers can conclude that the protagonist is generalizing the girls based on their ethnicity. Perhaps from his experiences or from what he had seen from the society. Not only that, but these generalizations lead him into believing that a man has to act a certain way depending on the ethnic group the girl is from. The girls are being judge and standardize depending on their ethnicity or where they live. Perchance, because of all stereotypes that he seen the society has on the girls has made he feels as if he could not be who he is. He does not feels like he belong anywhere and he could not reveal to other who he truly is. From such conclusions, the man vs society conflict has develops an internal conflict within himself.
Around the beginning of the story, the protagonist hides the “government cheese from refrigerator” (2) and “Take down any embarrassing photos” (2) of his family as if he been instructed to do so.

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

of.
The protagonist of the short story, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie,” has a conflict of man vs society which connects to his internal conflict. However, the man vs self-conflict is more overpower than his man vs society conflict. Though they do revolves around one another, but he is struggling within himself to find who he really is. He wants a place to belong with, yet he changes himself to fit with each ethnic group. He is scared to be who he really is and to expose his own culture to others. He does not want to be an outcast or judge upon because of his ethnicity, thus he did not embrace his culture, but rather conceal it. He is searching for a place where he can be affiliate with. In the end of the story he realizes and found his resolution internally. For an example, at the end of the story he said, “…the phone will ring. You will be tempted to pick it up. Don’t. Watch the shows you want to watch, without a family to debate you…Put the government cheese back in its place before your moms kills you” (22). From these assertions, the readers can see that the protagonist does not care about fitting in a group if it means that he have to changes himself. Rather than that, he can just be himself and worry about his own self. The theme of the story seems to be finding one true self and that is exactly what the protagonist resolution is. It should not matter where a person is from, he or she should always feel comfortable with who they are. Whether they belong in a certain group or not does not matter. No one should change themselves to fit in with other, rather, they should embrace themselves and be who they really are. This is the message that the protagonist finally found for himself.