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Drown

“Drown” by Junot Diaz is a collection of short stories giving Dominican immigrants accounts in their quest to achieve the American Dream following their relocation to the United States. The story unfolds at the time Yunior was aged between 19 or 20. Yunior and Mami were sharing an apartment in New Jersey. Papi seldomly calls Mami; he lives in Florida with a woman. Papi cries and begs Mami for money and promises to abandon his woman if Mami decides to come by. Yunior dislikes the tendency of their communication behavior, and at one time, when he found Mami talking to Papi, Yunior snatched Mami’s phone and hung up. Mami informs Yunior that Beto, his high school long-time friend was home from college. Yunior was pretty much uncertain of whether he intended to see Beto but just went to Beto’s home that night. Nobody was around, and even at the poll where they used to swim and party, there were many younger kids that he could not even remember them well. Some recognized him as the person who sells them shitty dope. Yunior head back home.

On the weekend, Mami and Yunior visit the mall. Yunior was quick to discover that the vast majority of the young people around them were his drug clients and hoped none of them would approach him to buy drugs. Mami and Yunior part ways and agree to see each other at 3:00. Yunior walks around those places where he and Beto used to go even though Papi had warned him to inform the police. Yunior recalls one incident when Beto was caught with a handful bag of stolen merchandise. Yunior usually goes clubbing with friends in the evenings; he is not selling drugs. Yunior recall of his previous sexual encounters with Beto before his college departure. Yunior fears becoming gay. Eventually, Yunior returns home following an evening of selling drugs.

In conclusion, Negocios explain some emotional life challenges. In Negocios, Ramon often cheats on his wife and tricked his father-in-law into gaining financial aid to move to the United States to make more money. Upon arriving in Miami, he finds a new job and could always send money to his family. All over sudden, that stops following Ramon starting a new family. “He didn’t dream about his familia and wouldn’t for many years,” Pg. 169. 

Works Cited

Da̕iz, Junot. Drown. Penguin, 1997.