Invierno Short Story

Kimberly Hinojos Paper 2: Causal Claim for Invierno 02/20/18
In the short story Invierno written by Junot Diaz, the main character Yunior and his family move to the United States from the Dominican Republic during the winter and become frustrated with the limitations set upon them by his father. In this story, Yunior speaks about the change that moving to New Jersey has on his mother and his perspective. Further, he goes into great detail about how he and his mother and brother are locked in their house everyday waiting for their father to arrive and talk to them about his day. Yunior’s mother places both Yunior and his brother Rafi in front of the television everyday, substituting school with myriad of television shows that will teach them

Yunior’s mother would like to learn english, but neither her sons or husband will help her learn; her sons claiming it does not matter and her husband thinking she would not be able to grasp the language. Later on, his mother becomes more bold and leaves the house to go for rather short walks in order to get out of the house and feel less trapped and depressed. Yunior goes into great description when speaking of the weather, his father, and the outdoors. Further, through his point of view we are able to know of his opinions and thoughts. Without the first person narrative, the audience would not have the necessary details to know what is going on and the context of the dialogue. Ultimately, by shifting the narration of the short story to an external point of view the audience would not have a clearer image or advantage when reading the story since most of the story is told by Yunior who is telling about the move

He starts with his view of his father and how he does not have very high expectations of him. He claims to have had a different thought of what his father was going to be like and states that he had “expected a different father, one about seven feet tall with enough money to buy our entire barrio, but this one was average height, with and average face” (125). Without this thought, the audience would be able to see that he is unhappy with his father and therefore it is not necessary. Further, the reader can see without the additional thoughts and opinions that Yunior does not think highly of his father and therefore does not look up to him as a role model. He believes his father to only be a disciplinary figure in his life and asserts “he said little to us that wasn’t disciplinary, which didn’t surprise us” (125). He goes into great detail about why he and his brother are restless and cause havoc around their small apartment, claiming “we didn’t think anything of using our sofas for trampolines at nine in the morning, while Papi was asleep” (129). This detail was not needed, but provided a lead in to the disciplinary actions that his father bestowed upon them after their constant