ipl-logo

Poverty In Junot Diaz's Drown

638 Words3 Pages

The Effects of Poverty
The American Dream, the reason why many people immigrate to the United States. Seemingly, it seems to be viewed as the land of the great and the free, but with regards to immigration many problems do arise. For example, poverty which can usually be the result of different factors, can ultimately lead to many struggles and repressions. In Junot Diaz’s book Drown, that is a collection of short stories that circle around a family from the Dominican Republic that move to the United States. They face numerous problems especially the protagonist, Yunior, who struggles not only with himself and impoverishment. The story can to a certain extent correlate with the lives of other immigrant families and the outcome of moving to a new land.
When there seems to be a need, especially when it comes to money people make hard decisions, as shown with Yunior’s father, Ramon, who goes on to the States to try and provide for his family. A choice like that may never be easy, but for many families, it is their best bet. Since it provides a sense of hope, a ray of light that can be the push that keeps many moving forward. In retrospect, there can be negative consequences or emotions from racism, language barriers, becoming distressed, etc. To change and better one’s life and others, sacrifices …show more content…

As he says,“We were poor. The only way we could have been poorer was to have lived in the campo or to have been Haitian immigrants…We didn’t eat rocks but we didn’t eat meat or beans either” (70). Although life for Yunior was not easy, he is able to analyze his living situation and incline towards the fact that it could have been worse. Yet, it is always unsettling to live in such as setting, as shown in Aguantado, being that Yunior is scared of being sent away from home when the going gets ruff because he knows that distance can become

Show More
Related
824 Words | 4 Pages

Yunior “surprised the shit out of Lola when I said I’d live with him the next year keep an eye on the fucking Dork for you” (169). Since Lola was abroad in Spain, Yunior was a loser because he did not have any place to stay. He said he had low chances to get university housing and was staying either with his “mom” or on the “street” (170). Yunior was smart enough to figure out what Oscar meant on the first day of moving in together Oscar greeted Yunior with Hail dog of god” Yunior figured it out in a “week” (171), which meant “Hail Dominicans” (171). Oscar is a big person, who is “massive” and “Lost” (171), writing a lot every day and “obsessed with his fan boy madness” (172).

Read More
1318 Words | 6 Pages

Mantsios’ compares the profiles of different Americans lifestyles in his text and develops the idea that an individual’s class standing can affect their livelihood in detrimental ways, “The lower one’s class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities, and the greater is the likelihood of crime victimization” (293). Mantsios explains that one’s class standing can affect the chances of survival and success. Ehrenreich describes her own housing experiences as a low income worker. To reduce her overall costs and to obtain a second job, Ehrenreich moves closer to Key West. Ehrenreich has just enough money to pay the rent and deposit on a tiny trailer at the Overseas Trailer Park.

Read More
543 Words | 3 Pages

Yunior is impacted by the patriarchal society because of the relationship he has with his father. Yunior struggles to be in a relationship because his father does not give him parental support. Yunior’s perspective in a relationship is different in Dominican Republic and in the United States. Yunior and his father have a distance relationship such as communication and guidance. Yunior does not receive parental advice from his parents about his relationships.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

He needs to financially support his family to make ends meet. He must also balance his obligations to work and school while attempting to succeed and improve his lot in life. Jimenez seeks success through education and sees it as an opportunity to change his life. Poverty is one of the many hurdles he has to face while

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

In the short story “ The Circuit” by Francisco Jimenez, the lifestyle of a migrant worker is portrayed as discouraging. Migrant workers have to move often. After a long day of picking strawberries, Panchito returns home to find that “Everything [he] owned was neatly packed in cardboard boxes.” he “suddenly felt even more the weight of hours, days, weeks, and months of work.” (1) Moving often is discouraging because everything that you have built at your current location is taken away.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

In “No Face”, Ysrael narrates the same events instead of Yunior. Although these two short stories do not directly feature Yunior and Rafa’s father, they are as much about Yunior’s growth and development during his father’s absence as they are about Ysrael. In “Situating Latin American Masculinity: Immigration, Empathy and Emasculation in Junot Diaz’s Drown”, John Riofrio emphasizes that “Ysrael sets the stage for the picture of masculinity which will reveal itself throughout all ten of the stories.” At this point in time, Yunior is only a nine year old boy in the Dominican Republic, at a point in life where he is on

Read More
1664 Words | 7 Pages

Poverty is a crippling situation which can stagnate the development of individuals. Insufficiency in a society can affect persons in more ways than one. Those experiencing a substandard way of living may not be able to obtain quality education which can cause a lack of sufficient employment. Lower paying jobs will more than likely not include quality health insurance for the employee.

Read More
1165 Words | 5 Pages

Yunior is a very flat character, we know of his intentions for dating, we he is Dominican, and we know he is embarrassed of his childhood. Other than these character traits, we do not know what Yunior’s aspirations could be. The character of Howie is also flat, we only know that he causes issues for Yunior and acts as somewhat of a terrorizer in the neighborhood. Junot Díaz writes about dating, social classes, the differences between parental roles based on race, and the difficulties that come with being happy with yourself. You’re the

Read More
1973 Words | 8 Pages

Because he was forced to step up at such a young age, he is never able to develop crucial skills as a child. His coming of age story was rushed and forced. Through his subconscious, his morals become unclear and he bases class off of what he believes is expected of him. Yunior does not want to be anything other than poor and therefore only acts poor. He attempts to better his mom’s life but never his

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

In the article “How I Discovered the Truth about Poverty” Barbara Ehrenreich gives her view in poverty and explains why she think Michael Harington’s book “The Other American” gives a wrong view on poverty. She explained that Harrington believes that the poor thought and felt differently and what divides the poor was their different “culture of poverty.” Ehrenreich goes on to explain on how the book that became a best seller caused so many bad stereotypes on the poor that by the Reagan era poverty was seen as “bad attitudes” and “faulty lifestyles” and not by the lack of jobs or low paying jobs. And they also viewed the poor as “Dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to “defer gratification,” or possibly even set an alarm clock.”

Read More
491 Words | 2 Pages

In the midst of all of this he finds a balance by focusing on what really matters. At the same time this keeps him focused on his main goal which is education. Education will be his family's way out of poverty. Through seeing his younger brother that is unemployed and will be having a child soon he looks beyond this and is genuinely proud of where he comes from. He realizes how strong his family is when he seems them fighting through poverty and making things.

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

Some people are suffering, how all the rich people smell money, and the poor people smell smoke. In the book The Outsiders, there are two social classes: the Greasers and the Socs. The Greasers are poor people who wear leather jackets and smoke whenever they want to, while the Socs are very rich and they beat the Greasers up just for kicks. In the poem "Poverty And Wealth," the author describes how a bird comes by with two kids. One child goes to a rich guy who wants him to be a lordy ruler of land and sea; the other child goes to a poor guy who wants God’s will that he has another mouth to fill.

Read More
1445 Words | 6 Pages

Families that are poor or have a low income are more likely to commit crimes for the purpose of their own needs to survive. “It is a fact that neighborhoods where the poor are concentrated are more prone to high crime rates, and poor residents are the most common victims of crimes” (1). The best explanation for this is that poorer people have the same needs as a regular middle-class citizen. The poor citizens need certain things to help him or her live a healthy life, such as healthcare, food stamps, and more employment options. One may argue that healthcare is too expensive and that food stamps have been taken away from many people.

Read More
593 Words | 3 Pages

In Tony Went to the Bodega but He Didn’t Buy Anything, Martín Espada shows how culture shock can affect someone who is a minority. The poem starts off by telling us “Tony’s father left the family” (line 1) and immediately I felt sad for Tony, but then it goes on to say that he was a boy who was “nine years old who had to find work” (lines 4-5). Not only does Tony not have a father figure growing up, but due to his financial situation, he now must find a job despite being so young. This is not uncommon because race and socio-economic status are tied, so many minorities have to find jobs at younger, even illegal ages to support their families.

Read More
848 Words | 4 Pages

Poverty can be a vicious cycle for some families that goes from generation to generation. Another personal issue that can lead to poverty is illness and unemployment which puts someone out of work and there is little to no income coming in. Along with these personal issues that I stated there are also many

Read More

More about Poverty In Junot Diaz's Drown

Related Topics

Open Document