“Drown,” the title story for Junot Diaz’s short story collection Drown, is a short but powerful narrative about a young man and his complicated relationship with an old friend, Beto. The story lingers on the history of the two men, but eventually reveals that the narrator (unnamed) experienced an ambiguous sexual encounter with Beto before he left for college. The unclear nature of this encounter was a prominent topic we discussed in class, and while I think it does matter (and in fact is the crux of this story) whether or not this experience was consensual, I believe the ambiguity and room for interpretation that is left up to the reader is an intentional choice and integral to the complex structure of this narrative.
The majority of the narrative focuses on how the narrator’s life is structured now that Beto has left, as well as flashbacks to how his life was before. This allows the reader to sympathize with both the narrator and Beto, wanting to see their reunion and unsure as to why the narrator is so hesitant to visit Beto. For example, “I pass his apartment but the windows are dark; I put my ear to the busted-up door and hear only the familiar hum of the air conditioner. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll talk to him. I can go back to my dinner and two years will become three.” However, when the reader learns about the narrator and Beto’s history, it is up to them to interpret how the narrator feels about the event. We already know about the narrator’s association with his homophobic friends, “At the Old Bridge Turnpike we pass the fag bar, which never seems to close… Tonight he just puts his head out the window. Fuck you! He shouts… That’s original, I say,” but even here we are unclear about his feelings and how he stands in the group.
I believe it’s important that we get so much background on the relationship between Beto and the narrator, because it supports the interpretation that Beto didn’t consider the encounter an assault. However, the hesitance of the narrator to reunite with Beto could be read either way, that the narrator is hesitant because he doesn’t know how to approach this topic with Beto because he doesn’t know what the encounter meant for them and their relationship, or he’s scared to confront Beto about an assault and doesn’t want it to happen again.
The title of the story, “Drown,” it confusing at first, because the story doesn’t really have anything to do with drowning. However, other than when the boys went to the pool as kids, the one time the narrator does mention water is right after the last encounter with Beto, where he says, “I wasn’t asleep or awake, caught somewhere in between, rocked slowly back and forth the way surf holds junk against the shore, rolling it over and over.” This could support the theory that Beto considered his encounter with Beto an attack, because if he considers himself that junk against the shore, his experience with Beto could be what’s causing him to “drown.”
This story asks us whether the narrator considers this encounter with Beto an assault or an awakening of sorts, and there is evidence for both interpretations. The events of the story and even the narrator’s account of the encounter itself are extremely ambiguous, leaving the decision up to the reader. This could be Diaz commenting on the “gray areas” of human sexuality and what that looks like in practice, or it could simply be a creative choice. Either way, I think the story is more compelling for it, and its complexities make it a stand-out narrative in Drown.
