In Fiesta 1980, Diaz creates a main character who narrates the issues occurring in the present. I think that Diaz tried to show Yunior’s point of view in order to illustrate his story and no other side for the reader to understand. It seemed that Yunior had enough maturity to understand family loyalty, but he was hesitant towards honesty. There were some flashbacks throughout the story which served the purpose to enlighten the readers of few incidents that have affected Yunior in past and are still very vivid to him. In my opinion, this story has too many connections to the real world. Yunior and his siblings are scared of their papi, because his papi is violent. He has harmed his kids too many times, but readers understand that Yunior loves
Junot Diaz is Dominican American, and he came from a very poor family with five other siblings. Since they were not that wealthy, they lived in a simple way. Even though his mother was basically the bread winner of the family since his father could not keep a job, she still manages to send money back home every six months or so. When they got home from their vacation, they had found out that someone has broken into their house and stole most of his mother’s money. It was easy for them to be a target because they were recent immigrant, and in their neighborhood cars and apartment were always getting jacked. His mother was very upset; she blamed her children, because she thought it was their friends who had done such a thing. “We kids knew where
I really enjoyed all of the characters and this book tremendously. Both Lupe's and Juan's mother were very strong and God fearing women. They had a very strong bind between their children who were taught values and morals. This book made me want to know my ancestral routes and learn more about my culture. Since this book was a true story about Victor Villasenor's family, it made the stories even more real. I would recommend this book to everyone who loves to read.
By reminiscing on his upbringing from living in Lima, Peru, a third world country. Father would constantly recall his biographical anecdotes to share with the family. Some stories were beyond gruesome in detail. Going in depth to the painful memories that still lingers around like a scar, my father told us how our grandfather, his own father, was abusive for even the most minute things. For instance, when my father would wore outfits that did not meet my grandfather’s standards, or looked into his father’s eyes fearfully when he was being punished, and even when he did not walk my grandmother to and from the grocery store. The mistreatment had reached the end of father’s patience when he became a rebellious son, breaking curfews and refusing to return home at the end of the day. In Junot Díaz 's short story Fiesta, 1980, narrated by an son, Yunior, who describes the hardships he and his Dominican family shared as they drove to a party in the Bronx in New York City. At the age of twelve, Yunior loses his innocence as a result from the never-ending verbal, emotional, and physical abuse his father, Papi, had taunted him with. This lost innocence was caused by what he had said, did, and did
What exactly does Aztlan mean? There are various definitions, such as the ancestral homeland of the Aztec people and their descendants or everyone’s individual Aztlan which is ones’ personal sanctuary. A place one creates in their own image consisting of features that show what kind of person they are, while at the same time still recognizing their ethnic culture. We all have this place though not everyone’s is the same. Your hobbies, interests, the way you dress all make up this special place. Without it, we would be metaphorically lost. For example, in the essay “Refiguring Aztlan”, it says, “Through Aztlan we come to better understand psychological time, regional make up, and evolution. Without any one of these ingredients, we would be contempo-rary displaced nomads, suffering the diaspora in our own land, and at the mercy of other social forces. Aztlan allows us to come full circle with our communal background as well as maintain ourselves as
Diaz uses the characterization of Yunior to show that he may not he's isolated himself from loyalty and having good relationships with people as well. Yunior is a character portrayed as a true dominican male because he is good with women. In chapter 6 on page 269 Yunior got lola
The books Kindred by Octavia Butler and The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz depict the violent aspects within their respective cultures. The violence shown in these novels are intricately biased based on the connection to the gender, race, and cultural norms of the narrator. Butler writes Kindred from the narration of an African American woman in California who travels back to the antebellum south in the early 19th century. Díaz writes from the perspective of a Dominican man, Yunior, who is a traditional stereotype of the Dominican man. Writing from this viewpoint suggests the misogyny and structural violence are culturally embedded in the lives of Dominicans. Although both novels recognize domestic violence as culturally
I knew once Arturo lost his job it was likely the Rivera family would end up going back to Mexico. However, I kept hoping that they would not. I kept hoping that he would find another job or they would find some other way to legally stay in Delaware. I kept hoping things would get better for them, especially Maribel. When Arturo died, I realized that this was unrealistic. At that point, they had no money, no source of income, nowhere to stay, and were likely to be deported by the authorities anyways. It was inevitable that they would end up back in
Martinez’s story is not so much one that pieces together the events of the crash, nor the lives of the three youths, but it is an immigrant’s tale, discovered through the crossings of the various Chavez family members and profiles of Cheranos in Mexico.
Few Hollywood film makers have captured America’s Wild West history as depicted in the movies, Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Most Western movies had fairly simple but very similar plots, including personal conflicts, land rights, crimes and of course, failed romances that typically led to drinking more alcoholic beverages than could respectfully be consumed by any one person, as they attempted to drown their sorrows away. The 1958 Rio Bravo and 1967 El Dorado Western movies directed by Howard Hawks, and starring John Wayne have a similar theme and plot. They tell the story of a sheriff and three of his deputies, as they stand alone against adversity in the name of the law. Western movies like these two have forever left a memorable and lasting impressions in the memory of every viewer, with its gunfighters, action filled saloons and sardonic showdowns all in the name of masculinity, revenge and unlawful aggressive behavior. Featuring some of the most famous backdrops in the world ranging from the rustic Red Rock Mountains of Monument Valley in Utah, to the jagged snow capped Mountain tops of the Teton Range in Wyoming, gun-slinging cowboys out in search of mischief and most often at their own misfortune traveled far and wide, seeking one dangerous encounter after another, and unfortunately, ending in their own demise.
Throughout the passage from “Roberto Ignacio Torres Bakes” and the passage from “The Dreamer,” Papi and Neftali change. Both of these characters had dreams that they ignored at first, but then embraced. Papi, a character from “Roberto Ignacio Torres Bakes,” dreamed of becoming a baker, while Neftali, a character from “The Dreamer,” dreamed of becoming a poet. Both of these characters are dynamic and they evolved throughout the passage.
To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there were very obvious differences in their culture and the one that I belong. Mexican-American culture identifies with their family rather than individualized or spiritual identities and the culture has gone through significant changes because of discrimination and the changing demographics of the United States.
Reymundo was born in Puerto Rico in 1963 in the back of a 1957 Chevy. His mother was married at age sixteen to a man that was seventy-four years of age. Reymundo’s father died when he was almost five years old, therefore he does not have much memory of the relationship that they had. Reymundo has 2 sisters with whom he did not have a relationship with, one sister would always watch out for him, but that was about it. After the death of Reymundo’s father, his mother remarried a guy named Emilio with which she had a daughter for. After Emilio, Pedro came in to the picture with his son Hector. Pedro was an illegal lottery dealer and Hector sold heroin.
In Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, he is telling the story of a Dominican family but mainly about the son, Oscar de Leon. The book opens with the story of Oscar as a child and him having two girlfriends at the same time. The older people in town see him as a ladies man and encourage him. The boy and the two girls all break up and his life seemed to be on a steady decline since then. He grows up to become a nerdy, fat, and awkward adolescence with few friends and even less interest from girls. This phase persists throughout his life and he never develops out of the nerdy boy he was as a child. The Dominican Republic was a hostile and poor place during the time of the novel. The dictator Trujillo controls the lives of the people in the country. This influenced the de Leon family’s present and future. Diaz develops the story by using the superstition, the cane field, and male dominance of the Dominican men
Junot Diaz displays in his short story “Fiesta” how an abusive father can cause a family
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.