Short Story Invierno

Throughout the story Invierno, the family is controlled by one person, the father. Although male figures are usually known for being providers and protective, the father in this story has crossed that line and is over controlling. Papi starts showing his authority on page 126, when he begins telling the boys how to act and how to be respectful. He then begins to set rules and restrictions in the household and is the only one who works and is allowed to leave. Yunior and Rafa realized his authority when Yunior attempted to go outside and Papi grabbed him by the ear and said "You 'll go out when I say you 're ready." (P. 126) Papi is really hard on them if they mess up. Yunior was unable to tie his shoes in front of his father. His father tells him "I met some dumb men in Guardia,

When Yunior says he cut too much, the father only replies "its better like this." (P.132) Only his opinion matters. Papi is also very aggressive and abusive. Yunior tells us that if the they get caught staring out the window they kneel in the corner for a few hours and then he says "If we messed that up, joking around or cheating, he would force us to kneel down on the cutting side of a coconut grater, and only when we were bleeding and whimpering would he let us up. (P.134) When the mother attempts to learn some English, he doesn’t support her, he shows his dominance by telling her "its best if I take care of the English" and "the average women cant speak English". (Page 129) He also does not let her out of the house, Mami is very bored and depressed, she cleaned everything about 10 times and made elaborate lunches for the family on page 127. She begged the father for some company and for him to bring friends over because she needed to talk to someone new. He replied with "None of you are ready for guests". (P.143) Only after the mother explains how much she cleaned and how put together the boys are does he consider it. He uses this to his advantage and has guests over two Fridays in a