Good Yunior v Bad Yunior

Throughout these two collections of short stories and one novel the reader is taken on a journey through the lives of Dominican-Americans. The main narrator, Yunior, is a very dynamic character in that it is difficult to tell whether or not he is truly a good person. Early on in Drown we see that Yunior is raised as a tough, masculine Dominican man. His male role models are first his father and then one that is more involved, his brother Rafa. It is easy to classify Yunior as a typical Dominican player who treats women as objects and does not truly care about them. Throughout all three stories he tells tales of his cheating escapades and his lying and mistreatment of girlfriends. However he also tells of some women that he truly cares about. These women such as Magda, and Lola, Yunior is truly remorseful when he screws up. For this reason I believe that deep down, he is truly a good person. But he works so hard to prove to others that he is what a Dominican man should be that his goodness is smothered. It would be easier to validate Yunior's goodness if he didn't continually do the same thing to his girlfriends. Time and time again Yunior builds up credibilty with women and improves his actions, yet in the end the relationship always ends on a bad note. It's almost as if his upbringing prevents him from ever having a truly healthy relationship, because he simply does not know what one is. Growing up he saw his father mistreat and cheat on his mother, he is constantly seeing his brother take advantage of all his girls and all his friends encourage this behavior as well. When he is upset about Magda his friends implore him to forget about her and find another girl. So even though Yunior really wants to be a good person, it is society that is holding him back. Had he of been born into a different situation, I believe that he would be an upstanding man. It is difficult to say whether he truly is good or not but in my opinion he is a good person that continually makes the same mistakes.