Childhood Masculinity in Drown

Many of the stories in Drown center around the character Yunior and his older brother Rafa. To me Yunior and Rafa were very familiar characters, as reading them reminded me of my childhood in a very general sense. Their own interactions with each other, how Rafa might have been hard on Yunior but at the end of the day was protective of him, all that made me think of my relationships with my own siblings, and it emphasized how universal I think those kinds of relationships must be.

There were a couple of things, however, that I could identify but not necessarily relate to in Yunior and Rafa’s relationship. One of the big things was the concept of masculinity. For example, in “Ysrael,” after Yunior has gotten off the bus and is crying, Rafa tells him to stop even though he doesn’t know the reason for it. The theme of having to keep his emotions inside continues in “Fiesta, 1980” when Yunior’s father punishes him for throwing up in the van. I think throwing up in the van was an emotional response because Yunior said he never threw up anywhere else, so it probably had something to do with the strained relationship/association of fear with his father. Neither of these emotional responses were something Yunior could control, especially at that young age, but I think the reason why it was expected comes down to imposed ideas of masculinity. We saw Yunior’s concept of masculinity get worse in “Fiesta, 1980” after Yunior and Rafa have been reunited with their father for a while, which may be because of their father’s influence or just because they’re getting older and there are more expectations of how boys their age are supposed to be. However any sort of influence at a young and formative age like this is going to have serious implications for how Yunior grows up and sees the world, which we haven’t had the opportunity to read yet.

Diaz heavily has included the theme of masculinity in pretty much all the stories in Drown so far, and in Yunior’s story we have seen the expectations of childhood masculinity not having the greatest effect on him. He went from a child hopeful to receive love from his father in “Aguantando,” to a kid more pressured to be a certain way, but still curious in “Ysrael,” to a scared and lonely boy in “Fiesta, 1980.” I’ll be curious to see what other perspectives/timelines we’ll get from Yunior’s point of view and how that fleshes out this story and topic. Thanks for reading!

The Kid's Guide to Divorce

I really liked this story because I thought it was unique. Moore’s stories mostly have to do with romantic relationships, and I was happy to see a change of pace in her subject matter. This story was also quite short compared to most of the other ones we’ve read, which I think allows the material which is included to stand out. I loved the mother-daughter dynamic (which I can only describe as “sweet”) that was highlighted throughout most of the story, but I think the underlying tensions throughout culminating in the last couple of paragraphs is what really made this story special.

The mother-daughter dynamic in this story was really special and really accurate in my opinion. I felt like I have acted out this scene with my own mom before, right down to the salty popcorn and sappy movie. The daughter herself was someone I think we were supposed to identify with, and I definitely did. She was corny, but honestly really cute and her behavior reflected a lot of what I see in other little kids. She was familiar, and I think that worked within the story very well.

The underlying tensions were another reason I found this story so compelling. First the argument between the girl and her mom, and the following “silent treatment,” which wouldn’t have been out of place in a normal situation I think, but when taken into consideration with the end of the story, could be telling about their dynamic. The mother and daughter obviously have some communication problems, but that isn’t necessarily the issue in my opinion. The daughter hides the things she deems not necessary to tell her mother, like the stuff about the “lady” and the “beer.” I think the daughter is trying to save the mother’s feelings here, or keep her from getting angry, which is a really interesting dynamic for someone we can assume is pretty young. I think that’s where the title comes in, because a “Kid’s Guide to Divorce” could be something necessary for a child who has to mature pretty quick in order to understand how to navigate these situations. This story was interesting in a lot of different ways, and I’m interested to see if Moore will continue any of these threads in later stories.