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!
Great post! I agree that masculinity, especially toxic masculinity, is one of Diaz's main themes throughout his stories. In Yunior's eyes, Rafa is this tough bad-ass guy who gets girls and that's kind of what Yunior sees as the norm for guys. However, Yunior has this soft side; he yearns for love and validation from his father.
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected masculinity to Yunior's development throughout the stories that we've read so far. The effect that these other masculine figures have on him is very striking, and it shows how important the concept of masculinity is in this family and culture. Instead of encouraging Yunior to be himself and giving him love and validation, like Grace mentioned previously, his father and brother subdue him and force these masculine ideals upon him.
ReplyDeleteMasculinity is used as a vice by both Raffa and the father to constrict Yunior into their own culture and way of doing things. An aspect of masculinity is power and control, which both Raffa and Papi attempt to use Yunior for. It becomes a cycle.
ReplyDeleteThe cycle of toxic masculinity is pretty clear in these stories. Their father is the primary male role in both kids lives and is heavily effecting their view on masculinity and treatment of others. It seems that Rafa has internalized what he sees in his father and despite not particularly liking him, Rafa has continues the cycle of negative toxicity.
ReplyDelete