When I read the chapter “Aguantando” in Junot Diaz “Drown” I felt sorry for Yunior. He grew up without his father in his critical years. And like every kid they start to imagine what this person would be like. He states” I did not think of him often. He had left for Nueva York when I was four but since I couldn’t remember a single moment with him I excused him from all my years of my life.” Here we see how Yunior is a naive kid. He believes that his father will come back so he just forgives his father as long as it means that he’ll be able to see him. Rafa would not tell his brother the truth that their father has abandoned them and when he sends his letters there all lies. What surprises me is that the mother keeps believing her husband lies. He keeps saying he’s coming back, so she goes way beyond for his return like planning a party, getting her and the kids new clothes, but he never shows up. Through the end of the chapter Rafa, Yunior, his mom and their grandpa go see a movie and they are nicely dressed. Here they meet a man and he starts to have a conversation with his mother. When they finished his mother said that this was the place where she and their father met. Here Yunior starts to imagine the day when his father would return and how it would be an amazing moment for the first time his father would get to meet his youngest son.
The next chapter, “Drown” presents and interesting perspective on homosexuality from Yunior’s perspective. We see that Yunior has a best friend named Beto. He and Beto have a close friendship. It seems that Yunior has more trust in Beto than his father. Yunior and Beto would shoplift and even though his mother never noticed it his dad did and warned him “you have to be careful cause I’m not getting you out of jail.” Even after the warning he would continue to do it. As the relationship continues it seems that it’s taking a different turn that makes Yunior uncomfortable. At a point in the chapter the two are watching a porn movie and in that moment Beto makes a sexual move on Yunior. This causes Yunior to leave the house shocked at what just happened. It seems that Beto continued to make moves on Yunior. Yunior would never tell Beto he wasn’t into that maybe he said no to Beto cause he still wanted to be friends with Beto. When Beto left for college he left a book for Yunior. Yunior threw it out without opening it probably as a symbol of the end of their friendship.
   The chapter “Boyfriend” is told from an unknown narrator but I believe that it might be Yunior at some point in his life because he has talked about past girlfriends. He talks about how a woman that lives in the same apartment building as him. This chapter is his perspective of a woman and her boyfriend’s relationship. The boyfriend tells her he needs space but all he is doing is cheating on her. She tries everything in order for him to stay with her. In the end he never called her or visited her after that. Yunior then decides to invite her to his apartment and all they do is talk. After that they acted like complete strangers only saying hi to each other when they’d pass the hallways.
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In the section Aguantando slows down when Yunior was 9 years of age in the Dominican Republic of how the main part began however this section is currently experience living there lives since Yunior’s dad was missing since he went to the United States to discover riches and sometime bring his family over to the United yet hasn’t came back to bring them leaving their mom needed to work extended periods of time with scarcely any compensation and from that point forward Yunior’s family has been living off poor in the Dominican Republic seeking after their dad to return and carry them to the United States.
Drown is a short story that happens essentially while Yunior is in secondary school. Yunior portrays the story and clarifies that he is living alone with his mom. Toward the start of the story, the mother reveals to Yunior that Beto, an old companion just showed up around. Yunior clarifies that both of them used to be dear companions yet an occasion occured to cause separation between them.Yunior’s portrayal comes back to his mother and Yunior explains upon their standard living respectively. During the end of the week, the mother will some of the time ask Yunior to take her to the shopping center, however before going the pair stroll through the house, checking every window to ensure it is bolted. While in transit to the shopping center, Yunior perceives numerous countenances and clarifies that every one of these people have purchased drugs from him. Once at the shopping center, Yunior recollects his shoplifting days and depicts how he and Beto used to burglarize different stores in the shopping center. The companions would invest energy doing these kinds of exercises during the day and afterward around evening time a significant number of the youngsters would sneak over the fence to a pool.
Yunior searches for Beto at Beto’s home and at the pool, however can’t discover him. When Yunior gets back, he discovers his mom on the telephone with his dad who lives with another lady in Florida. Yunior objects to their talking and tells his mom that she has conversed with his dad enough. Yunior starts describing about his past again and floats to the minute that caused the partition among Yunior and Beto. Quickly before Beto was to leave for school, Yunior and Beto were watching pornography together when Beto started to feel Yunior in a sexual way. The following day the young men went to Beto’s home over and over had a sexual encounter. Yunior’s portrayal comes back to his mom and delineates both of them viewing a film until his mom nods off.
In the section Boyfriend, the storyteller clarifies that when he smokes weed he rest strolls. On one of thes weed instigated adventures, the storyteller winds up in the lobby and mostly wakes to hear the battle occurring on the floor beneath him. A sweetheart and a sweetheart are battling and toward the end the beau exits, disregarding the sweetheart crying and. This fight helps the storyteller to remember his past darling, Loretta. During the next days, the storyteller tunes in from his loft as the sweetheart procedures the separation. The sweetheart comes more than a few times to recover his things and the storyteller keeps on tuning in to the couples battling and discussion and contrast it with his own time with Loretta. The storyteller asks out the sweetheart and she approaches his condo. They make little take and drink espresso, yet don’t go out once more. The storyteller and the sweetheart pass each other in the structure and coolly welcome one another. One day the storyteller sees the sweetheart and the sweetheart has trimmed her hair short. The storyteller reveals to her that he prefers her hair and that the new trimmed makes her look furious. The sweetheart tell tha storyteller that that was what she proposed.
The idea we got about the book, the characters and the essence of everything change pretty drastically in Aurora. From now on, Yunior it’s not the little and innocent kid we knew, we don’t even see his family, it’s like a different character from some other book. In my last reflection I didn’t believe that that was Yunior, but now the proves are there, that’s him in a way that no one expected in the last 3 chapters before Aurora. Despite the fact that Yunior wasn’t a bad kid, interested in girls(excessively like his brother), he’s now a drug dealer, in love with a drug addict, my old me couldn’t believe it, even I can’t believe it. This is a radical change where both of them are using the other in order to gain what they want, Yunior wants some love and she wants drugs. The question we get as soon as we read this chapter, how it ended so badly? Just for a disfuncional family?
Aguantando keeps the idea of Fiesta 1980, they have a bad father, they are suffering and struggling because of him. However, in this case they are in Dominican Republic with a more crude and rude history. it’s not just having a rude father, their economic situation it’s as bad as possible. Unlike other chapters, there’s mentions of his grandad, they live with him or that’s what I asume, and he’s a great support for all of them because they don’t have a masculine figure.
Drown, the chapter with the same name than the book. Is this a coincidence? Or is this one of the most or the most important chapter? There’s a few similarities to Aurora, he’s in a sentimental/sexual situation that is out of his hands, he’s a drug dealer. However, there’s also differences, like he still lives with his mother, he’s going to the school, and the most important one, the discovery of his sexual orientation. His close relationship with his best friend, who’s a Pato, and now he’s discovering that he may be one too. He looks like he will be a pato, or at least bisexual. He’s experimenting and we will have to see.
“Aguantando” is a chapter that will make the reader feel sorry for Yunior. The chapter is mostly about how he did not grow up with his father during the time when he really needed a father figure. He even tries to imagine what he is like at one point. Yunior’s father left when Yunior was only 4. Even though he had never seen his father he still has hope that one day they will see each other. Something that is crazy is the fact that Rafa would never tell Yunior the truth that his father abandoned them and that every letter he sends saying that he is coming are all lies. I find that to be very wrong because it is giving Yunior so much false hope and he deserves to know the real deal. Even his mother knows and she still believes that he will come back too knowing that is all a lie. She goes out of her way to prepare for his arrival by planning a party and even buying new clothes for Rafa and Yunior.
“Drown” is all bout the friendship that Yunior and Beto had. At the beginning of the chapter, It is clear that they were the best of friends. They both would shoplift but Yunior has been giving a warning by his father “you have to be careful cause I’m not getting you out of jail” but despite that, he still continues to do it. As their friendship grows stronger, there is a slight shift between them and Yunior notices it and is not too content. Later on in the chapter, they were both watching a porn movie together and that is when Beto decided to make a sexual move on Yunior and that is when the downfall of their friendship began. He never made it clear to Beto that he was not into that but att he same time in a way he wanted to keep the friendship. When Beto left for college, he left a bok behind for Yunior but he ended up throwing it out and thus ended the friendship between the two.
“Boyfriend” is a weird chapter because it not told from the perspective of one of the characters that we already know. I believe it could be Yunior at some point because he talked about his past girlfriends. The prespective of a women and her boyfriends relationship can be seen in this chapter.
In chapter 6 also known as “Boyfriend” we get to see the growth of Yunior’s character even more when he started spying on the girlfriend who was living directly on top of him. For example, one night Yunior suddenly found himself outside in the hallway since he’d been smoking weed and said at one point that it made him sleep walk. While he was trying to get up he heard a pair of voices coming from the girlfriend’s apartment but he didn’t ignore it instead he proceeded to listen in on the conversation. Yunior found himself in a state of confort listening to the couple’s argument. Eventually he did find his way back to his room but he would continue to listen in on the couple’s conflict. When the boyfriend wasn’t in the picture anymore Yunior tried to exploit the situation by trying to get with the girlfriend but didn’t work instead they simply never really spoke again.
In the 7th chapter, Yunior and his coworker Wayne, who is twice Yunior’s age but its still unclear how old is Yunior, builds tables for people. Wayne also has a wife who he cheats on around twice a year. Yunior would sometimes steal from the mansions he’s been invited into for work if the customers weren’t fair with them and sometimes even vandalize. Yunior would also steal from his job of being a cashier and would end up with hundreds of dollars sometimes of which he used to treat his girl out for anything she wants. However he does want to buy a pool table with the money he’d made honestly with the job he had. Yunior liked building tables for people since he liked seeing them admiring his work. We still see Yunior liking odd girls since he said at one point in the book that the thing he liked about with girls is that both of them during the spring time would be skinny, hungry, and dark skinned. It was kinda unclear if he was still in a relationship since his mother would sometimes ask him if he’s seeing anyone which he would reply with a yeah. Also I want sure if Yunior was lying about having sex with a maid from one of the nasty clients he once worked for named C. Clarence Pruitt since it wasn’t stated in the book but Yunior told Wayne he did.
Chapter 8 started out in third person point of view, like someone was giving you directions/ rules to follow. This was unusual since all the other chapters started out with Yunior or someone speaking in first person explaining their life story. It started off with cleaning the house and removing all embarrassing photos of family and a picture of a dead goat being dragged by childrens to make it look presentable to visitors. This chapter is about being with people and how someone may lust for another based on how things are presented. It’s basically a how to situations on how to correlate yourself with other people.
In chapter 9 we followed the story of the mask man named Ysrael. We began with him waking up and instantly put his mask on before anything else. He’d get bullied for his appearance and even got jumped becase of it. The boys that jumped him said that they’d make him a girl but befor they could do anything Ysrael managed to push the boys off of him and ran to a church. In the church the pastor who served as his godfather somewhat, protecting him from the boys telling them to scrame. The church served as a safe haven for Ysrael buy sometimes teens would still pelt rock and stone towards the windows. Nevertheless the pastor would continue to encourage Ysrael to be a better person and make sure he doesn’t cry.