n chapters 4-6 of Diaz’s “Drown ” I felt a sort of sympathy for Yunior as he had to travel a lot to different relatives homes throughout his childhood years. There were situations where he had to stay with his Tia in Boca Chica without his mother or Rafa. He would stay for weeks at a time eating different foods and listening to his Tia criticize his dad for leaving his mom how he did. His mom would show up later on after a few weeks and she would look different with her hair and nails done maybe even thinner than before. If it wasn’t this situation it would play out differently as he would wake up in the mornings where his mom would be gone and the only one around was his Abuelo. He then wouldnt see her for weeks and when she returned would act as if he wasn’t excited to see her. Again she would return with hair done and looking a bit different. All this just shows the struggle that both the mother and Yunior were going through emotionally with their father having left them and leaving his mother to work.
In another chapter, you see that even after his father comes back he leaves again while Yunior is in about high school. The father is said to have left for Florida with another female. This leaves Yunior providing for his mother and himself. He feels obligated to give her money when they go to the mall and stuff of that nature. Yunior looks as his mom as perfect and really puts all his energy into taking care of her and her only. At some point it feels as if his only goal in life is to make sure she’s ok. He also walks in on her talking on the phone with his father and she denies it. He tells her that communicating with him is enough. This is Yuniors way of trying to rule out his dad completely and not wanting to do anything with him. This is because of the disappointment the father has continuously left with his family. This is very saddening and you feel very much his feeling of abandonment.
