Now, I'm not trying to objectify any people by using the word "products" in the title. However, I do feel that throughout all of Diaz's stories, he shows us how our morals and life styles are massively influenced by our environment. I feel like he did especially well in a couple of his stories, namely "Aurora", "Drown", and "Boyfriend".
A couple days ago in class when we were talking about the narrator's relationship with Aurora, we touched upon the topic of love. Many of us didn't see their relationship as somehow "fated" or "romantic" in any way; in fact, most of us sided with Cut's point of view, that Lucero needs to "get the fuck out of there". We stated that Aurora seemingly got more out of the relationship, stealing his money then running off, not caring to hide the evidence. She uses Lucero as her protector from the police when she goes out, arguably as a "meat shield". However, we must consider that we are in an environment that is completely different from their's. While we live on (or near) an intellectual campus with houses, Lucero and Aurora are running from abandoned basement to basement, never having a permanent den to stay in. They (Lucero and Cut at least) are drug dealers, and I can say pretty confident that at least most of us don't know anything about that life. They break into offices and utility rooms to find a space to store their goods. They are without waste systems, and throw their crap into drain holes. While many would see these people as low lives and nasty, I believe that inherently these people aren't nasty at all, but are just products of a nasty environment. It's not like they like the way they live; hell, I'm sure they'd be willing to take on a stable job and raise a stable family -- Aurora even says that herself. Can we honestly say that we would have the same morals as of right now if we were put into the same situation?
I felt that the story "Drown" also shows the impact of one's environment on us greatly, though it is based on the internal conflicts between two ex-best-friends with opposite takes on their way of life. We see that the narrator, whose name isn't explicitly given, struggles to get by since his father had left him and his mother. Therefore, he and his best friend Beto had resorted to stealing, even getting busted together. After the day's over, they would go down to the communal pool to cool off; needless to say, it probably smells like piss with so many kids in there with no one to clean it. The narrator's mom still believes that his father is coming back to get them to America, but the narrator knows that's not happening, and tries to get his mother to let go. He uses a toothbrush to clean his shoes. Reading this, I want to say I feel his pain, but truly, I don't; I can't imagine what it would be like to live there.
Though none of you guys have read "Boyfriend" unless it's on your own initiative, I feel compelled to talk about it in my blog post. First off, it's a really short story, less than 10 pages long, and y'all should definitely read it -- it's worth. Secondly, I'd like to actually talk about the story. It starts out with the narrator talking about how weed screws people over and its effects on him. Next he starts talking about how he's seeing a couple try to do the do, and how the boyfriend would cheat on his girlfriend when the girlfriend was in jail. They would have arguments that would end up having at least one of the partners to burst into tears. While being very moved myself, the narrator states that he doesn't feel a thing -- he is dumb from these kind of feelings, having had these experiences himself with his past girlfriends, none of which worked out in the end. Here's the catch though: in the middle of the story, he reveals what he really wants in a girlfriend. No, it's not about having a nice ass, and no it's not about how long they can "do the jig". He states that he was jealous of the couple he is observing not because they have better of those qualities stated above, but how much Spanish they speak to each other. We then learn that the narrator's past girlfriends didn't really speak Spanish. It is also revealed that his girlfriend who was closest to being able to communicate with him in Spanish told him that she only dated him because he looked like some Sicilian man she'd known, and immediately broke up with her. Throughout the whole book, the narrator brings up his most recent girlfriend Loretta and how he misses her so much, and how he would have to block out another girl in his life, ultimately creating another barrier with being able to feel emotions. Though these observations, I found that the narrator wants a girl who he can communicate with, appreciates who HE is and not about who he LOOKS like, and obviously is looking for a with real love, nothing superficial. Isn't this also what we want. Maybe inherently we are more alike than we are different, but it is the environment that leads up to totally different lives.
I think the issue of the environment's effect on how people turn out is difficult to address. A similar topic was discussed in African-American where Wright tries to argue the naturalist viewpoint and say that any actions committed are a byproduct of how the environment affected the life of the one who committed the actions. I believe that in the stories in Drown, the environment is a factor, but you cannot rule out the actions of the characters themselves. In Aurora, Lucero was constantly being urged to get out of the relationship and he did not which seems to be a personal choice rather than a choice caused by his environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the environment these characters are in has a huge affect in how their lives turn out. As you point out, their situation is vastly different from our own, and while that definitely influences their decisions, I don't think we can rule out the fact that they do have free will.
ReplyDeleteI agree and think that it's pretty clear that an environment has a huge affect on practically every aspect of a person. Reading these stories from a more privileged point of view, its really hard to imagine what the characters go through. During class when people were saying that what Aurora and the narrator had was not love, I think that it shows the bias in our point of view. I think "love" can be defined differently based on what kind of situation you are in.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely with you here. The characters in the story are doing everything they can to survive, and sometimes that doesn't overlap with the morals of people are really privileged, like us. The characters within these stories don't have a lot of choices for how they can shape their lives, so it'd be really hard for them to try to live by our morals. I didn't read "Boyfriend" but it seems like a really interesting read to help tie up the loose ends of that character.
ReplyDeleteYou present an interesting point that makes me wonder: do these characters have the ability to lift themselves up from their environment, or are they doomed to have these issues regardless of the actions that they take? I'm reminded of the narrator's assessment of the students he teaches in "Sonny's Blues," and how he realized that they are all trapped within the confines of their race and possibly already using drugs. Perhaps Diaz is making a point here that something needs to change.
ReplyDeleteYou're making me wish I'd included "Boyfriend" on the reading list. It's not that I had anything against that story (although I did wonder if all the drugs and sex might be a little much for a high school classroom, it's not like we don't get any of this stuff in the other stories, as well), it's just that I was trying to fit in as much as I could in a limited sapce.
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