When we read “Ysrael” and “Fiesta,
1980,” two stories in Drown by Junot
Diaz, I could not help but notice a very interesting parallel between these two
stories and the first two stories in Going
to Meet the Man, “The Rockpile” and “The Outing.” These two pairs of
stories share many striking similarities.
These
stories are both centered on the relationship between two brothers. The stories
from Going to Meet the Man focus on
John and Roy, and those from Drown
are about Yunior and Rafa. In Drown,
the relationship between the brothers is defined by Rafa’s position as the
elder brother. Especially in “Ysrael,” Rafa is the dominant force in the
relationship. He bullies Yunior, although this is often in the context of
“tough love,” and Yunior certainly looks up to him. The relationship between
John and Roy in the first story is not very strongly defined, but in “The
Outing” it becomes much more significant. While Roy is the younger brother,
several factors have made him more accepted in the community and the family
than John. Roy has “seen the light” and become a full member of the church
community, while John is still having his doubts. And within his family, John
struggles to find his father’s approval because he is an illegitimate child
from an earlier relationship of his mother.
Related
to John’s position in the family as an illegitimate child is the figure of the
father in both families described in the two pairs of stories. In both Drown and Going to Meet the Man the fathers are violent and dominate their
respective families. The father from Drown
went to America before the rest of the family, so he is not a present force in
“Ysrael,” but in “Fiesta, 1980” he treats both of his sons roughly, especially
Yunior on grounds of his carsickness.
