Overview:
      In the episode entitled “Aguantando”, the narrator, Yunior, is remembering how his Mami, Rafa, Abuelo, and he struggled in the Dominican Republic.  In “Drown” we are introduced to Yunior’s teenage friend, Beto who has returned from college; the two are no longer on speaking terms.  We find out that the reason for the stand off stems from Beto’s sexual desire for Yunior and Yunior's own accommodation of the encounter.  Along with the tough guy image, we also see a softer side of Yunior when he takes his mom shopping; though he still uses his drug money to buy her things.   Meanwhile,  in “Boyfriend”, Yunior becomes a little snoop, as he knows everything that goes on with the ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ in the apartment above him.

Analysis:
          Yunior describes his poverty in the episode Aguantando.  He explains:"We were poor. The only way we could have been poorer was to have lived in the campo or to have been Haitian immigrants. […] We didn’t eat rocks but we didn’t eat meat or beans either” (70).  At this time he lives with his mother, his grandfather, and his brother, Rafa. It is typical for Latin families to have an extended family living situation.   His dad at this time is living in the United States.   The boys are led to believe that Papi is going to send for them soon.  This makes Mami sad, especially when she would receive promising letters from him saying that he would come any month or week now: “It didn’t help matters that me and Rafa kept asking her when we were leaving for the states, when Papi was coming.” The father, we discogver, is busy making a new life and a new family for himself in New York City.

Having a family member go to the United States is also common for Latin American families.   But it is a disruptive measure, as seen in the text.  Papi’s absence, his cessation of support, and Abuelo’s inability to work all combine to obligate Mami to seek employment. Yunior recalls: “She worked at Embajador Chocolate putting ten-, twelve hour shifts for almost no money at all”  Economically, when the going got rough, and  “the last colored bill flew out of Mami’s purse” Rafa and Yunior would stay with some relatives. Rafa didn’t mind staying at his Tio’s house; he thought of it as a vacation. On the other hand, Yunior the youngest of the two, never wanted to be away from the family.  We see separation issues at work here.
            The innocence of Yunior in this episode makes the reader feel sympathy towards him.  His father leaves him when he his four, he always yearned for his mother’s affection, and his family's living and economic conditions were terrible.  And for all of this, it is not surprising that this episode was entitled, “Aguantando” which translates “to endure.”

Questions:
   1.      What other types of typical Latino scenarios does Diaz provide in these episodes?
   2.     What do you think of the relation of these three episodes?