The two sections out of Drown that I read were ‘Aguantado’ and ‘Boyfriend’ which were recounted by the narrator Yunior.

The first section (pg. 69-88), ‘Aguantado’ was a section that showed Yunior’s life and how it was to grow up with out a dad. Like many families deal with, Yunior’s father Ramon moved to America to attempt to find a better life for his family. I have a friend from Jamaica who was in a very similar situation where his dad came to America to work and have a place for his kids to come to so that they could attend college in America. Big sections about this talked about the reliance on family members to also help in taking care of children, especially in situations where a parent is missing or absent.

In the second section (pg. 111-117), ‘Boyfriend’ was about one of Yunior’s neighbors who is going through a break up with her break up. This happens to be a interracial relationship which brings its own issues of racism and judgement. A lot of these issues can be related or tied back to potential stereotypical racial issues.

I ended up reading the whole book because I found it to be interesting, and when reading about assimilation, I no where thought that Yunior or any of the people that he talked about, were trying to change to fit into another culture or group. They were very proud of who they were and what culture they have and live in. Especially Yunior, who even though his father lived in America and his family members and friends are all slightly different culturally and economically, still believed that in who he was and kept with who he wanted to be. He did not force himself to change in anyway to better fit in with other individuals.