As we briefly touched on in
Tuesday’s class, there are many discussions of socioeconomic class divisions
throughout Drown. Yunior sees other
ways of life than simply the poverty-ridden Dominican/Dominican-American lifestyle
in which he was raised. While I was reading, I noticed it most blatantly in
some of Yunior’s comments in Boyfriend about the couple downstairs. Yunior told
his friend Harold that the couple in the apartment below his was having
problems – “boyfriend” left and “girlfriend” cried almost constantly. The strange
part about this gossip is that Yunior found out about the couple’s breakup simply
by listening through the floorboards, not by knowing them personally. He mirrored
the woman’s movement and listened. He said; “I followed her into the bathroom,
the two of us separated by a floor, wires and some pipes” (Diaz, 112). This
stalker-like behavior is odd at first glance, but he followed her motion
because he resonated with the woman’s distress, saying; “It would have broken
my heart if it hadn’t been so damn familiar” (Diaz, 112). Despite their
physical separation of a floor between them, Yunior empathizes with the woman
in a very real way. He uses her heartbreak to reflect back on his own – with
his own recent breakup with the Latina girl Loretta. This empathy cuts across
class lines and bonds the two in sorrow, if only in Yunior’s mind. After
talking with Harold, the author confirms the fact that the neighbors could
never be friends or comfort one another in sadness because she was not of the
same social class. The author put it best when saying; “Homegirl was too
beautiful, too high-class for a couple of knuckleheads like us. Never saw her
in a t-shirt or without jewelry… People like these were untouchables to me,
raised on some other planet…” (Diaz 112).
The class divisions, visible to Yunior by simple things like wardrobe
and accessories, made contact between the two classes unlikely and unreturned
if it did occur. Despite these societal constraints, Yunior asked the woman up
to his apartment for coffee. Though she came, it was awkward and such contact
never occurred again. Though both
individuals were grieving the loss of a relationship and could have been
comfort to one another, the class divisions were too great to overcome. The
theme of class distinctions is seen in other aspects of Drown, but is most prevalent
in Yunior’s encounter with “Girlfriend.”
Differences between classes are definitely highlighted in Drown by Junot Diaz. Classes in the stories seem to be divided by both socioeconomic status as you mentioned, but also by race separating the Dominicans from white Americans. In many cases these are the same divisions as Dominicans are the poor laborers working for the wealthy whites. This is especially apparent in the story "Edison, New Jersey". In this story the white owners of the house look down on the workers and are hesitant to leave them alone in their houses, for fear of theft. Yunior just wants to be left alone to do his job as he says, "the best customers leave us alone until the bill has to be signed" (Diaz 122). Yunior knows there is very little he can do to get back at those above him in the class system so he does small things like steal stealing razors or clogging their toilets. It seems like the relationships between people of different classes are very uncomfortable and they don’t know how to interact with each other. This is seen in many of the stories including your analysis of the “Girlfriend” story, specifically the time when the “girlfriend” comes up to his apartment for coffee.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I missed the class discussion, I also found the idea of socioeconomics important in Drown. Each story hits on different aspects of socioeconomic statues, but the one I found most intriguing was in Fiesta. The family goes to visit Tia Yrma and Tio Miguel in the Bronx. The Bronx is known for being home to many immigrants and lower class citizens, which is one sign of a lower economic status. The way Yunior describes the apartment also shows qualities of a lower class. For example he says, “They had a disco ball hanging in the living room and the they type of stucco ceilings that looked like stalactite heaven. The sofas all had golden tassels dangling from the edges.” (Diaz, 12). Yunior also describes Tia’s nails. He says they are the longest nails he has ever seen. He even relates them to the Guiness World Record Book. This got me thinking about the way different classes represent themselves. The overall idea of nails in the working class is to be short and trimmed. By making the observation of Tia’s nails, Yunior creates the idea that the behavior is not normal. He makes the family seem different than other people. It seems he is embarrassed. Although this chapter is not as significant as the quotes in “Girlfriend”, it is interesting to see the different ways socioeconomic class is attacked.
ReplyDelete