In Junot Diaz's "How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie," Yunior presents us with step-by-step tutorial of courting various females. Written in second person, it gave me a flashback to Lorrie More's Self-Help. As with the stories in that book, however, I began contemplating the deeper meaning of the information he was presenting us with, especially in the context of his personal life.
Admittedly, the guide itself gives some pretty harmless dating advice I think we've all been through at some point or another. For instance, it's not a bad idea to get rid of old embarrassing pictures before inviting a person of interest to one's home. Doing some minor house cleaning is also expected. "Make sure the bathroom is presentable. Put the basket with all the crapped-on toilet paper under the sink" (144). On the surface, all of the instructions so far seemed fairly ordinary, but upon taking a closer look at the story I began noticing Yunior's dissatisfaction with himself and his culture.
The fact that the title literally lists a few of Yunior's "types" is already a bit revealing of the importance of race. From the beginning, when he's preparing his home for the girls, he mentions, "hide the pictures of yourself with an Afro" (143). Additionally, we notice his slight panic as a white mother comes to meet him at his door. "Run a hand through your hair like the whiteboys do even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa" (145). Then, throughout the story, he mentions how he should adjust his mannerisms based on a girls' race. Besides this, these girls don't really seem to have any individual or memorable personalities that require special adjusting.
As the story progresses, Yunior continues to tell us his tips for the various outcomes one might encounter when trying to date. It was at this point, however, that I started pondering if what he was telling us was purely educational, or if his subconscious was making its way into the story, too. On several occasions, we seem to realize that Yunior is no more suave than some of the boys at Uni High. He struggles to make conversation at times, but is still quite respectable and takes what he can get. After one such encounter, a girl says, "you're the only kind of guy who asks me out," as if it's a bad thing. Here, we see Yunior further questioning his legitimacy as datable material.
Overall, I personally liked the way this story was written. It had a good pace (and length), and several comedic twists that made if more interesting to read. That being said, though, I struggled to understand if this was the dating advice of a confident, debonair guy who likes paying attention to details, or a nerd who finds every situation slightly uncomfortable, and has made a guide to deal with it.
I agree that to understand the story we have to look deeper into his thoughts. By the end of our discussion on this story, I felt that much of the advice was based off of experience, because he knows how to act in the case of the four different girls. Also the detail put into how Yunior feels, makes me think that these scenarios stem from experience, and since most of them don't end very well, Yunior's credibility is not looking too good.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this story because I think it is one of the most honest and funny stories in the collection as well as the story that provides the best look at Yunior's character. The way this story is written like a guide immediately made me think of how Rafa used to tell Yunior about his sexual exploits back in the Dominican Republic, and Yunior said "he didn't understand everything, but he remembered it for later." Now that Yunior has come into his sexual awakening, the second person style of this story almost made me think Yunior's thoughts were based on Rafa's prior advice about girls.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this story is told in the second person imperative like many of Lorrie Moore's, I think one of the most compelling approaches is the one you outlined here: that Yunior isn't so suave after all, and this is written as much to walk himself through the process as it is us. The points you raised about race and Yunior's potential dissatisfaction with his own culture are interesting as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and think that the story worked very well. There are many aspects of the story that are under the surface, especially his insecurity about his class (the "government cheese"), and his race and culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Pauline; I really liked this story, too! You make some really great points, but I personally believe that Yunior leans more toward the nerdy writer of a self-conscious and forced dating guide rather than a suave, charming player. I wrote a blog post on that exact topic, and I agree that the perspective of the story is very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that Yunior pays so much attention to the race of the girls and acts differently around each type of girl. When I read this story, I personally saw Yunior as the kind of guy who doesn't have much experience with girls.
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