Hegemonic Masculinity Junot Diaz has a "powerful insight into the realities of the Caribbean diaspora, American assimilation, and lives lived between cultures" -this according to the citation for his 2012 MacArthur Fellowship. This is How You Lose Her, brings forth an honest modern perception of gender dynamics as well as hegemonic masculinities. Yunior De La Casas is a Dominican American man as well as the narrator of a great deal of short stories in Junot Diaz's modern collection, This is How You Lose Her. It would not be difficult to characterize Yunior as a "sucio" (translation: a cheater, a man who lacks an understanding of women.) “Both your father and your brother were sucios. Shit, your father used to take you on his pussy runs, …show more content…
leave you in the car while he ran up into cribs to bone his girlfriends.
Your brother was no better, boning girls on the bed next to yours. You had hoped the gene missed you, skipped a generation, but clearly you were kidding yourself. The blood always shows, you say to Paloma on the ride to school next day. Yunior, she stirs from her doze, i don't have time for your craziness, OK?"(Diaz, 165) From this quote, it is evident how much of a role Yunior's father as well as his brother Rafa have played in his life. Growing up Yunior was continuously around sex, therefore sex is primarily his main focus when it comes to women and relationships. In This is How You Lose Her eight out of the nine collection of stories revolve around unsuccessful romances and relationships. Male infidelity is a recurring theme throughout the compilation of stories. "Miss Lorra" as well as the last story, "The Cheaters Guide to Love," demonstrates Yunior persistently making an effort to attain a romantic ideal that is inevitably out of range as he continues to be a typical example of his womanizing father and brother Rafa. Yunior is conflicted as well as divided within himself, his relationship with his father and brother Rafa shaped and ultimately molded not only how he thinks but how he acts towards women. Yunior
inevitably turns into a self proclaimed "sucio" he states, "The blood always shows".(Diaz, 165) Although Yunior does not like being called a "sucio" he feels its almost an expected behavior and masculine identity for a Dominican man to have sexual relations with whom he wants and thinks cheating is admissible due to the fact that is how his family was. The unhealthy and deeply sexist environment as well as his childhood displayed and exemplified by his womanizing father have left Yunior troubled and unable to comprehend his guiltiness. In the same way Rafa, Yuniors brother even in his darkest times battling cancer, continuously repeats the same pattern of infidelity-seducing a string of women into his bed in the basement. The masculine identities in the compilation of short stories in, This is How You Lose Her, sheds light on critical problems of Latin culture. Through out This is How You Lose Her, women are objectified and reside in a society where men get their way and are always right. Yunior serves as an example to demonstrate the behavior as well as mentality of hyper masculinity displayed in various generations of his life as well as his own. Yunior's opening words are, "I'M NOT A BAD GUY. I know how that sounds defensive, unscrupulous- but it's true. I'm like everybody else: weak, full of mistakes, but basically good." (Diaz, pg. 3) Through out these short compilations of stories but mainly in the, "The Sun, the Moon, the Stars" Yunior reiterates "Im not a bad guy" (Diaz, pg. 3) in order to assure himself that his behavior is expected for a man. In doing so Yunior although more sensitive than his womanizing father and brother Rafa, is unable to escape temptation and keeps repeating the same patterns of infidelity and betrayal. The ironic opening by Yunior demonstrates the fault in his honesty yet, he is unable to accept it himself. His childhood and upbringing have left Yunior torned between two identities as well as a misleading value of love. Women are objects not only to Yunior but in this novel. The women depicted in the novel are used and betrayed by men solely for their physical attributes. Yunior actually does love some of these women but has a limited understanding of women as well as the effects of his wounding betrayals. Take for instance Yuniors description of Miss Lora: "Miss Lora was too skinny. Had no hips whatsoever. No breasts, either, no ass, even her hair failed to make the grade.
The book “Dead Girls Don’t Lie” written by Jennifer Shaw Wolf focuses on a variety of different ideas and topics, mostly fixating the murder of the main character’s best friend Rachel. With this also comes gang violence, lost and found relationships, and the fact that some people will go to great extents in order to keep a lethal secret from the public eye. Rachel and Jaycee were best friends up until 6 months before where the book started. But, an altercation between them caused the breakup of their long lasted friendship. It is soon found out that Rachel was shot through her bedroom window, which is at first suspected to be gang violence. When Jaycee doesn’t answer her phone on the night Rachel was murdered, she received a text that circulates
Sandra Cisneros “Never Marry a Mexican” and Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are stories that reflect on the cultures in which the characters grew up in. In Never Marry, Clemencia, the narrator, reflects on her past sexual relations as well as her childhood. She speaks of her parents’ marriage and then transitions into her relationship with college professor and his son. In Oscar Wao, Yunior, the narrator, gives a second-hand retelling of Oscar’s experiences in New Jersey growing up as well as in the Dominican Republic. A person’s identity is largely influenced by their culture, this is especially the case in Hispanic cultures. The social constraints that these cultures place on social class, sexuality, and gender norms can be very detrimental to a person’s self-esteem.
The fourth Chapter of Estella Blackburn’s non fiction novel Broken lives “A Fathers Influence”, exposes readers to Eric Edgar Cooke and John Button’s time of adolescence. The chapter juxtaposes the two main characters too provide the reader with character analyses so later they may make judgment on the verdict. The chapter includes accounts of the crimes and punishments that Cooke contended with from 1948 to 1958. Cooke’s psychiatric assessment that he received during one of his first convictions and his life after conviction, marring Sally Lavin. It also exposes John Button’s crime of truancy, and his move from the UK to Australia.
Junot Diaz's Drown, a compilation of short stories, exemplifies how the high standard of masculinity within the Latino community can have a detrimental effect on males. These stories are told in the first person by a narrator called Yunior. The different stories are told against the background of The Dominican Republic and the United States. The narrator highlights the different challenges that he faces throughout his childhood and into his young adult life. During this period, he struggles to find his identity which is expected by every Latino. In the Dominican Republic, a man’s manhood is closely tied to his identity, and Yunior is no exception. While in the process of finding his identity, Yunior is challenged with abuse, poverty and the lure of drugs, which leads to his addiction and his becoming violent .…
As a journalist in 1920 for the New York Herald Tribune, Sophie Treadwell was assigned to go to Mexico to follow the situation after the Mexican Revolution. (Mexican Revolution 1910-1917) She covered many important aspects of the Mexican Revolution during this time, including relations between the U.S. and Mexico. She was even permitted an interview with Pancho Villa in August 1921 at his headquarters. This interview and other events that she experienced in Mexico are presumably what led her to write the play Gringo. In Gringo Treadwell tries to depict the stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes that Mexicans and Americans have about each other. There is a demonstration of how Mexican women are looked at in the Mexican culture and how they see themselves. The play also corresponds to similar events that occurred during the Mexican Revolution.
Coming of age stories have the ability to take a concept that most people experience but shape them into unique experiences. For example, Quinceanera by Judith Ortiz Cofer and The Ball Poem both discuss coming of age to the narrator but went on different paths to reach this conclusion. Both deal with symbolism and having a trigger of sorts to start the process to come to age but each poem has a way to dealing with the aspect that we have a to grow up.
Traditions, heritage and culture are three of the most important aspects of Chinese culture. Passed down from mother to daughter, these traditions are expected to carry on for years to come. In Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club, daughters Waverly, Lena, Rose and June thoughts about their culture are congested by Americanization while on their quests towards self-actualization. Each daughter struggles to find balance between Chinese heritage and American values through marriage and professional careers.
By examining the narrative voice as well as the cultural restraints placed on them, readers can see the sexist culture in the novel and that the novel itself does not necessarily advocate this misogyny. Yunior, a Dominican man, is the overall narrator of the novel, so readers essentially see everything through his masculine eye. When discussing a brief fling with Lola, Oscar’s sister, Yunior says, “Even those nights after I got jumped she wouldn’t let me steal on her ass for nothing. So you can sleep in my bed but you can’t sleep with me?” (Diaz 169) His question suggests that it is his right to sleep with her, and his discussion of Lola herself objectifies her by noting only her body and her refusal to use it. This objectification is clearly sexist, but it is a reflection of the narrative voice, Yunior, not of Lola. Yunior will casually refer to a woman as “a bitch” (Diaz 183), which is clearly demeaning, but it is a man’s view and does not reflect on the substance of the women. It shows readers the culture he was raised in, not an actual portrayal of the women, illustrating a misogynist society but not a misogynistic novel. In the Dominican Republic, gender-based violence is the fourth leading cause of death, hinting at the overall problems caused by the hyper-sexualized nature of the country. Sociologist Denise Paiewonsky
This novel is a story of a Chicano family. Sofi, her husband Domingo together with their four daughters – Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca live in the little town of Tome, New Mexico. The story focuses on the struggles of Sofi, the death of her daughters and the problems of their town. Sofi endures all the hardships and problems that come her way. Her marriage is deteriorating; her daughters are dying one by one. But, she endures it all and comes out stronger and more enlightened than ever. Sofi is a woman that never gives up no matter how poorly life treats her. The author- Ana Castillo mixes religion, super natural occurrences, sex, laughter and heartbreak in this novel. The novel is tragic, with no happy ending but at the same time funny and inspiring. It is full of the victory of the human spirit. The names of Sofi’s first three daughters denote the three major Christian ideals (Hope, Faith and Charity).
Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” introduces readers to Clemencia. Cisneros eludes Clemencia as a woman who appears proud of her Mexican heritage, yet knows not how the slanderous phrase “Never marry a Mexican” uttered from her well-meaning mother’s trusty lips about Clemencia’s own Mexican father negatively foreshadows her seedy life and gloomy world perspective later down her destructive journey of adulthood.
Although it is ultimately revealed that Oscar and Yunior are close with each other, Yunior’s pure embodiment of the Dominican masculine is the complete antithesis of Oscar’s character, who is the opposite of anything that could describe Yunior. One good analogy to the hyper masculine identity of Yunior is to that of the personality of Trujillo, the repressive dictator of the Dominican Republic who oversaw the Haitian parsley massacre. Trujillo had a strong lust for women and a rather apparent tendency for violence, and as some sources (i.e. Masculinity after Trujillo, by Maja Horn) argue, the modern conception of masculinity in the country came to full bloom after his rein. Interestingly this was the period of time that Beli grew up in, and a substantial part of her childhood experience was suffering at the behest of Trujillo’s suppressive regime, and consequentially this contributed to her hefty and dominant
The role of strong female roles in literature is both frightening to some and enlightening to others. Although times have changed, Sandra Cisneros’ stories about Mexican-American women provide a cultural division within itself that reflects in a recent time. The cultural themes in Cisneros’s stories highlight the struggle of women who identify with Mexican-American heritage and the struggle in terms of living up to Mexican culture – as a separate ethnic body. The women in Sandra Cisneros’ stories are struggling with living up to identities assigned to them, while trying to create their own as women without an ethnic landscape. In Sandra Cisneros’ stories “Woman Hollering Creek: and “Never Marry a Mexican” the role of female identities that are conflicted are highlighted, in that they have to straddle two worlds at once as Mexican-American women.
This is How You Lose Her is a book written by Junot Diaz consisting of short stories, told by the protagonist, Yunior. Yunior’s character is described as the Dominican guy who struggles with infidelity and unable to love others full-heartedly. Diaz also shows how in Dominican culture; men carry the reputation of being womanizers and usually is pass from one generation to the next. Throughout the book, he tells us stories pertaining to the relationships he had with the women he had in his life, and his family. From the stories one can assume that Yunior, caught up in a vicious cycle was destined to follow into patriarchy; a father who cheated on his mother, and an oldest brother who followed
The novel “This Is How You Lose Her”, by Junot Diaz, consist of multiple short stories that connects with the main overall story and character. All of the story, except for one, is narrated by the main character, Yunior. Yunior was once a bookworm but began leading down the path of uncertainty, and multiple love affairs that many times ruined his relationships. Although the story has some focus on his family affairs, everything would always tie back to love lost. One chapter focused on his families struggle to live in the US. It exemplifies that every human being does not like being alone. Yunior definitely had a thing going with Ms. Lora. Theoretically, the relationship that Yunior had with her had put a strain in his lust for a “secret” type
The novel, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other (2011) written by Sherry Turkle, presents many controversial views, and demonstrating numerous examples of how technology is replacing complex pieces and relationships in our life. The book is slightly divided into two parts with the first focused on social robots and their relationships with people. The second half is much different, focusing on the online world and it’s presence in society. Overall, Turkle makes many personally agreeable and disagreeable points in the book that bring it together as a whole.