What I found most interesting in Drown by Junot Diaz was the relationship Yunior has with his mother in comparison to the relationship he has with his father. It is clear that “Papi,” as Yunoir calls his father, has a dominant role in the household. Yunoir describes how his Mami is frightened to stand up to Papi. He states, “Being around Papi all her life had turned her into a major-league wuss. Anytime Papi raised his voice her lip would start trembling” (Diaz 26). Papi physically punishes anyone in the family who makes him mad, but he especially picks on Yunior. In contrast, Mami is very tender and caring towards Yunior. She gives him mints to help with his carsickness and can always tell when something is wrong in his life. Although Papi is constantly angry or annoyed by Yunior, Yunior still craves his love and affection and wants to spend time with him. He wants Papi’s respect. Yunior remains loyal to Papi even after he finds out that Papi is having an affair. He does not tell his Mami and keeps the secret for his Papi. It’s interesting to me that although Papi treats Yunior so badly Yunior still wants to please him. It demonstrates the family dynamic of the respect children were expected to have for their parents, even when their parents might not be very deserving of that respect.
     Yunior also has a very interesting relationship with his brother, Rafa. Rafa is sometimes nice to Yunior and other times insults him or hits him. Rafa gets annoyed when Yunior tries to tag along with him but occasionally the two of them do things together. Rafa is much more experienced with girls, and more experienced in general than Yunior is. All the trouble Rafa and Yunior get into is Rafa’s idea. When they try to see Ysrael without his mask on Rafa smashes a bottle on his head. Yunior is horrified. This dynamic is a pattern throughout the book, with Rafa doing something outrageous and Yunior standing back and watching, upset. Yunior does not stand up to his brother, both because he wants to be included in his brother’s life and because his brother will hit him. Since his brother is older, Yunior seems to accept his brothers treatment of him, just like he accepts his Papi’s.