Yunior’s idea of Dominican Masculinity

In Junot Diaz’s Drown, multiple short stories depict the lives and habits of various Dominicans related to Yunior. The central idea of Dominican masculinity is not only present in Drown, but in two other books narrated by Yunior as well: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and This is How You Lose Her.

In Drown, Diaz begins to develop a depiction of Dominican masculinity through the actions of Yunior’s father. Whenever Yunior rides in his father’s Volkswagen van, he is prone to throwing up. When the family attends a party together, Yunior’s father tells him: “ ‘If you eat anything, I’m going to beat you...and if your brother gives you any food, I’ll beat him too. Right here in front of everybody’” (Diaz 37). From the beginning of Yunior’s childhood, his father is characterized by his frequent use of violence on not only Yunior, but also his entire family. Due to his father’s violent behavior, Yunior grows up with the social norm that men must be tough and forceful as a means of getting what they want. Any signs of weakness or immaturity are consistently repressed.

Throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz gives readers a contrasting depiction of what is not considered Dominican masculinity through the life of Yunior’s friend Oscar. Aside from during his childhood, Oscar is unable to have serious relationships with women because of his physical appearance and interests in sci-fi genres. Because he lacks a father figure for most of his life, Oscar continues to withdraw from conventional activities that Yunior tries to involve him in, like “the gym,” “novias (girlfriends),” and “slutties” (Diaz 172). Because Oscar is an un-athletic virgin that fails to fit in with Yunior and his friends, his Dominican ethnicity is sarcastically questioned at times. Thus, his personality and physical characteristics are examples of what is not considered to be masculine by Dominicans.

This Is How You Lose Her further depicts Dominican Masculinity through Yunior’s continual unfaithfulness to his girlfriends. Even though he is satisfied with his girlfriend Alma, he still cheats on her and writes about it in his journal. She ends up reading it one day and immediately dumping him. (Diaz 50). Yunior is even aware of his disloyal behavior. He states his ex Magda “considers [him] a typical Dominican man: a sucio, an asshole” (Diaz 3). As Yunior recalls all his different relationships throughout the novel, it is clear that his ideas on what is normal Dominican male behavior are a product of his role models as a child: his father and brother.

As Yunior develops throughout all three novels, it is clear that much of why he does what he does is a result of his being raised with his brother and father. The way they treat women and Yunior himself shapes his idea of what is normal male behavior.