Реферат: Drown Essay Research Paper The story of

poverty, the confusion of loving a Crackhead, and shock of reality.

"Drown" tells of an impoverished, fatherless youth in the Dominican

Republic and his struggle with immigrant life in New Jersey. It shows pain and

suffering very accurately. The last and longest of the stories, "Negocios,"

reconstructs the adventures of Ramon, the father who left his wife and children

behind to try to make it in the States. It is told from the point of Yunior, the

youngest son. "Negocios," points up this collection’s one weakness. It

is a chronicle of his father’s immigration, remarriage and, finally, the

rescuing of his children and first wife from their bleak life in the Dominican

Republic. In this book, words used show lots of meaning (strong use of verbs).

By doing this Diaz has managed to physically imprint the reality of his

characters so as to make them seen. The characters step out of the plots so

vibrantly real. What I enjoyed about this book is that there was no use of

Italics or any other editorial assistance for the reader. This showed me that he

is taking a stand against the use of Italics. It’s almost as though Diaz is

writing in a diary and there is no need for such things. Also, these stories are

not read like stories, they are more like a sociological study. The feelings and

the observations jump off the page so much so that the stories appear very much

autobiographical. Again bringing up the point of whether it should be classified

fiction or non-fiction. D?az never loses sight of the telling details of

immigrant life stateside. He describes food from the perspective of a Dominican

boy who eats only boiled yucca and platano. The yucca and platano is a symbol of

his poverty and hunger in "Aguantando." Then he writes about everyone

getting obese in America; even the immigrants themselves. This simple abundance

of food gets to the imagination of immigrants, enduring for many years as the

newcomer’s fascination with the United States. The picture inside the plastic

bag of the father in "Aguantando" is one of the symbols. This is a

symbol of an absentee father; present in more that one story. The government

cheese, was also a symbol of hunger and poverty. It was both treasured and