The Dreamer By Junot Diaz Summary

“The Dreamer” written by Junot DÍaz and published in the women’s magazine titled More in 2011. Diaz, originally born in the Dominican Republic immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1975. He is known for both short stories and novels and has one several awards, such as, National Book Critics Circle Award and a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, both for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In this essay the topic is the Diaz’s mother and details what one can reason to be only a small portion of her trials growing up a young girl in the Dominican Republic. Especially as a girl who wanted to learn and become more than just another poor farmworker one day. Portraying to us the strong hand of her Mother and the moment hope became reality. Diaz shows readers that there is hope and reward for not giving up even when the trials before you are abundant.

This essay is captivating, descriptive, inspiring, and revealing. Diaz does an excellent job painting a mental image of what life must have been like for this young girl living in an

intellectually, emotionally, and physically impoverished environment; where you are expected to put aside dreams and learning and begin hard manual labor at a young age. Throughout reading this essay one will feel empathy, inspiration, a tinge of sadness, and hope. He pays wonderful tribute to his Mother and the strong willed 7 year old girl that she was for his successes in his career and as what he thinks of to not become discouraged himself.
He begins the story of his mother describing her as “one of those ironwill rarely speak figures that haunt” (Diaz pg.

128). This immediately paints a mental image of a stoic, strong willed, and perhaps even temperamental woman, he then softens it with description of her interacting with squirrels in a way that a softer, gentler person would, but then bounces back to the sterner version of her describing her feeding and almost disciplinary behavior with even the squirrels. He describes her being a small girl in the Dominican Republic who would aid the farm hands with their wounds or illnesses, sparking a desire in her to become a nurse. She knew that an education would be the key but her mother was not interested in sending her to school, she was to stay and work on the farm. He describes her environment as third world and then later her punishments as third world striving to make his audience realize the magnitude of

both.
The determined girl devises a way to stay behind when her family heads out for their seasonal move; she drinks the dirty water of a puddle to make herself ill. Her mother has no choice but to leave her behind with family; she then makes her way to the school house and informs the teacher that she wants to attend school. At this point Diaz makes a statement that is meant to show how easily things could have went opposite of the way his Mother hoped, he mentions that the teacher should have sent her away but that she did not, he states that not only was she idealistic but that she was from the capital; the capital being idolized as a place of opportunity. His grandmother was handcuffed for attempting to remove his mother from school; after that she went to school but she was beaten. He quotes his mother as saying that “Your grandmother beat me almost every day, but I got my education.” This is a statement of pride, and even reads as though there is a hint of defiance in it. And while she didn’t become a nurse, she did learn perseverance and passed on the desire to learn and improved the next generation by doing so.
This essay was mainly narrative and moves from present day description of his mother to the past and how she became to be the woman that she is in the beginning of the essay, and then closes with how this affected and helped him in his career. His work is dramatic and vivid making it easy for one to visualize the setting. While the audience could certainly be other male writers such as himself, being published in a women’s magazine directs it toward a range of women, from those just doing casual reading and enjoying the story of this author and his mother, to women who may have a dream they are afraid to strive for and read this as the inspiration they needed to take that first step. It plays on the emotions of its readers in a way that will leave one feeling in awe of the young girls courage, hopeful for themselves or others trying to reach goals, thankful that they do not live in a world so harsh, and impressed by the changes one can make to break a vicious cycle of abuse and educational barriers.