Summary Of We The Animals By Justin Torres

Gender roles and expectations “This is your heritage, he said, as if from this dance we could know about his own childhood, about the flavor and grit of tenement buildings in Spanish Harlem, and projects in Red Hook, and dance halls, and city parks, and about his own Paps, how he beat him, how he taught him to dance, as if we could hear Spanish in his movements, as if Puerto Rico was a man in a bathrobe, grabbing another beer from the fridge and raising it to drink, his head back, still dancing, still steeping and snapping perfectly in time.” (Torres, 10). Within We the Animals by Justin Torres, we find a sad narrative of anger depression and woe. The main focus of said story is how family dynamics and real life experiences led a child to

Admit it,” (Torres, 109). By the end of the story the narrator tells us how his family ends up sending him to a place for crazy people, and he is very hurt by this. He had such emotional, and physical abuse done to him that instead of trying to talk to them about it he freaks out and threatens to kill them all. Everyone in the family thinks he is crazy and unfortunately he does need help because of all the mental abuse. He ends up hating himself and the family. In conclusion we learn that in We the Animals by Justin Torres, violent gender roles and cultural beliefs negatively affect the characters on a physical, emotional and mental level. Raising children in a family household that has rigid gender roles, with fixed ideas about what should be considered “masculine” and “feminine,” is damaging to their physical and mental health. Men and woman need to be in a stable environment without abuse and gender stereotypes, we need to teach children to speak how they feel, and not to be ashamed of it. Men can cry and still be brave, woman can be smart and still beautiful. Feminism should always exist because men and woman deserve to have the same rights and