Drown displays a
dysfunctional relationship toward what Yunior and his family considers the
correct way to be a man and the correct way to be a woman. Men think of their
wives as a constant sexual release that they are entitled to. Rafa describes
the relationship with women that he has learned through his life on page 31.
“It’s the only pussy you’ll ever get, Rafa said to me in English” (31). By
referring to dating women as “getting pussy”, Rafa seeks to encourage the
objectification of women, subverting them as a lower class created to please
men. Yunior contributes to this idea later in the novel, as he constantly
describes sex as the ultimate goal from women, stating that he will “at least
get a handjob” if he invites a “white girl” to his home. His father confirms the role of women in his
life when he becomes frustrated that “a man his age has to masturbate when he
had a wife” (179). His father considers the primary purpose of his wife, and
all women in his life, is to be used sexually. He does not believe in monogamy,
even taking his son to his mistress’s home. Yunior learned this traits from
being around his father and constantly objectifies and dehumanizes women.. Papi
marries his mistress in New York and even begins a family with her, but later
she gains weight and Papi immediately makes plans to leave her. Yunior’s father
uses every person in his life as a means to an end, not just women as a means
for sex.
The moment
that he decides he is not sexually attracted to his new wife he makes plans to leave
her, and to bring his family to New York, hoping to use them “as a regenerative
force that could redeem his fortunes” (204). He believes that by bringing his
family his own fortune will turn around. He does not intend to bring his family
out of a desire to see them. He hopes that the act of supporting his family will
help him gain financial independence and security, a reward for his positive
choice, again using his wife and children for his own gain.
Catherine Brizzi-In Drown, by Junot Diaz, the decency of Yunior (and the other male protagonists) is often overpowered by the desire to live up to the Latin stereotypes of masculinity. When Yunior is young, he spends a lot of time with his brother, who often speaks to him about the different girls that he has been with. He looks up to and respects his brother, at one point he says, “I was too young to understand most of what he said, but I listened to him anyway, in case these things might be useful in the future”(Diaz, 6). When he and his brother decide to torment Ysrael by ripping off his mask, Yunior is nervous and guilty during the trip there, and once he sees Ysrael’s face, he is sympathetic. He states, “Ysreal will be ok…they’re going to fix him” (Diaz, 19). He is innocent and does not really want to harm Ysrael, but he desires his brother’s approval and so he pretends to be tougher than he is . Junior’s behavior is also influenced by his observations of his father, who is unfaithful to his mother. Although Junior and his brother are aware of the affair, the family does not talk about it. He says “The affair was like a hole in our living room floor, one we’d gotten so used to circumnavigating that we sometimes forgot it was there” (Diaz, 40). Although he never confronts his father about the other woman, he is angered at the betrayal of his mother, and hurt by the actions of his father, which is demonstrated when he says “I don’t remember being out of sorts after I met the Puerto Rican woman, but I must have been because Mami only asked me questions when she thought something was wrong in my life” (Diaz, 42). He does not approve of his father’s infidelity, but it is the only model of male behavior that he is exposed to, and so it influences how he treats his own girlfriends. The way that these characters view relationships is demonstrated when a young man hears his neighbors arguing and says, “It’s all sweet talk, they’re yelling because they’re in love”(Diaz, 52). In “Aurora”, an ambiguous male protagonist is also conflicted between the romantic love he claims to feel and his need for aggressive dominance. The young man attempts to take care of Aurora, buying her cigarettes and driving her to the Hacienda, but if often violent and horrible to her. He says “and after a while I hit her and made the blood come out of her ear like a worm”(Diaz, 65). This disrespectful attitude is also demonstrated in “How to date a brown girl”, as a young man explains his rituals for picking up different races of women. Although he is not violent with the woman that he sees, and does not force them to do anything that they don’t want to, he views them as interchangeable bodies for him to entertain himself with, and not as individual people. He says “If the girls from around your way take her out to El Cibao for dinner. Order everything in your busted up Spanish. Let her correct you if she’s Latina and amaze her if she’s black. If she’s not from around the way, Wendy’s will do” (Diaz, 145). The men in Drown are not inherently bad or violent people, they are often truly attracted to the girls that they interact with, but the machismo that is modeled and expected of young Latin boys causes them to act in aggressive and sexist ways, even if they regret it afterwards.
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