Patriarchy and Violence in Drown

In Junot Diaz's Drown, patriarchy and violence play major roles in the course of the novel. In the stories that relate to Yunior, a clear hierarchy is established within the family, with his abusive father above everyone else. The entire family dynamic is dictated by Papi, which is voiced by Yunior:  "If Papi had walked in and caught us lounging around in our underwear, he would have kicked our asses something serious" (Diaz 23). This is further demonstrated in the relationship between Mami and Papi, in which, she eventually accepts Papi back into their life. When she hears about Papi's plan to come back, she becomes very tense and even resorts to violence, "Mami had landed a slap on my neck and Wilfredo told me he could see the imprints of her fingers on my skin" (Diaz 79). While Mami knows that their father has been gone for many years, she still has a sort of compliance to him. 

Violence is very prominent in each of the short stories including "Aurora", "Ysrael", and "Fiesta, 1980". It seems that the Dominican male in particular is associated with some sort of physical violence. Rafa in particular is influenced by Papi in how he seems to be emulating the same sort of violent, womanizing, alpha male. This is particularly true in "Ysrael" when Rafa attempts to see Ysrael's face and smashes "the bottle on top of his head" (Diaz 18). Rafa and Yunior live in constant worry of violence from their father, even when in social situations. When Wilquins turns up the volume on the television during the party, Rafa tells him" See, you nearly got your ass kicked" which is what he would expect from such an act of defiance towards this powerful figure (Diaz 34). 

Overall patriarchy and violence are very present within this picturesquely Dominican society, especially depicted within Yunior's family in the characters of Rafa and Papi.