For this week post I will be discussing about the short reading we did in class “How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)” by Junot Diaz.
The narrator in this text uses a very interesting narrative style. He uses “you” which makes it seem like he’s talking to the reader. The text is about him teaching you the reader, and even giving advice on how to date different type of women. He is very opinionated and judgmental of the different women he dates. He talk about how he prefer white girl over brown girl, which is very offensive to many people.
He uses the word “you” alot in the reading which in my opinion is trying to make the reader agree with what he’s saying, another word convincing you to think like him. He even depict the types of women for exam he said he prefer local women over outside women. He’s saying all the bad thing about the brown women but never mention the good thing about them. On the first page quoted “If the girl’s local, don’t sweat it. She’ll flow over when she’s good and ready.” showing how he categorize different women. “If the girl’s from the Terrace stack the boxes
behind the milk. If she’s from the Park or Society Hill hide the cheese in the cabinet above the oven, way up where she’ll never see. ” this is another quote showing how he judge the women base on their background and where they come from.
It felt like the whole story was basically written on this author personal experience from what we discussed in the class today. I still didn’t like how much bad thing he said about color women. If I can connect this with something else we read in class it would be “Quicksand” by Nella Larsen, the reason why is because i feel like this author Junot Diaz could be one of those people who were criticizing Helga because she is mix race. But both story has the topic about the racism during the 1990. I didn’t like the story, I don’t agree with what he’s saying about brown women, and I would not support this author.
To build on the part where you said ” He’s saying all the bad thing about the brown women but never mention the good thing about them.” He’s basically answering the question from the topic of his story. Talking about other girls, putting the spotlight on mostly white girls. I believe that he’s saying not to date a black girl, for the boy’s looking for a fast one and looking for it from an African American girl will not get it. I agree with you, I do not like this story, I believe it is very dehumanizing for girls in general and I would also not support this author.
I actually liked this story.The thing about Junot Diaz is he writes stories about things that upset people on purpose.Its sort of his trademark style.I agree however that narrator is very opinionated and looks down towards brown girls. However he is Hispanic more specifically Dominican in the Dominican Republic lighter skin almost white skin is preferred and so is long straight hair.Its not surprising to me that he likes white girls over brown girls becuase that’s part of his culture.And as for the categorization of females for the most part he is right some people do fit into certain categories,however it’s generally not accepted in society to speak on such things becuase of how ” offended ” people get.He is correct however he lives in a neighborhood that is obviously not rich and a lot of these girls come from some sort of money.Its not far off to say that something like govt cheese would be off putting to them.The use of the word you however is more of a means to an end in my opinion,even if he was trying to convince someone to be like him(which he has every right to do) if they follow his example that says a lot about their self confidence and intelligence level.
I think the narrative style he used in the story was meant to almost force the reader to empathize with the narrator’s values. I don’t think this is meant to make you agree with the sleazy point of view, but to make you “identify” with them and cause your reaction to be more personal. After reading up on Junot Diaz and what he’s been up to in the past, I’m not sure if he wrote what he really believed or not, and whether this story might be his own way of dealing with his short comings. Just something to think about.
Another thing that stood out to me in this story is the racism/colorism expressed by the narrator. I feel like he says the things he does about these girls because he’s insecure and doesn’t know how to just be himself. He makes the assumption that a black girl will think one way, that a hispanic girl will do something different, and that a white girl will just act completely opposite. He assumes how they will act based on his assumptions about how they might perceive him.
Yes, thanks for the correction I do agree using “you” is more of a narrative style rather then to convince the reader to agreeing with him.
Yes, thanks for the correction I do agree using “you” is more of a narrative style rather then to convince the reader to agreeing with him.
I agree with you. I didn’t like how the author categorized girls by race and experience. I think the author shouldn’t have think it was okay to treat girls differently because of their race. I think boys should treat all girls the same with respect. I also think boys have a stereotype about “local girls, “white girls”, and “colored girls” and I think that this stereotype should end because it still happens to this day and it’s inaccurate.