The review of the novels We the Animal and This is how you lose her - Essay Example

? s ‘We the Animal’ and ‘This is how you lose her’ ‘We the Animal’ and ‘This is how you lose her’ are current chronicles depicting the thoughts of the respectable authors, Justin Torres and Junot Diaz, respectively. However, the plot, tone and the writing style are quite different from conventional novels that have inspired readers from all ages. Justin Torres and Junot Diaz both use a modern style of writing in which the language oscillates between a formal and casual tone; by the end of it the entire prose has only a bare hint of formality. The tone engrosses the reader as he or she is able to relate to the contents of the novel; it shows language similar to the daily use, allowing the reader to be further involved in the plot. ‘We the animals’ is an autobiographical account of Torres, as he tells it from the point of view of three kids getting through their childhoods. Their parents are continually at work and the father is Puerto Rican and the mother is American, their feelings for one another constantly fluctuate, therefore, their house is goes through turbulence every once in a while that finally results in the break-up of his family unit. Throughout the unraveling of the plot, the life of the child changes drastically, the child endures the pain of growing up. On the other hand, ‘This is how you lose her’ is about the life of Yunior and his struggle of love. Yunior is at a crossroads where he has an idealistic view of true love and yet is enticed by other women, which pressurizes him to question whether or he will fulfill the stereotype regarding Dominican men that labels all of them as ‘cheaters’. In both the stories, ethnicity plays a key factor. Ethnicity is responsible for shaping one’s culture and traditions, and at times it also plays a crucial role in molding the personality of a human being as well. These traditions provide a basis for one’s values that in turn affects the mindset of the child; therefore, according to Torres and Diaz, ethnicity is responsible for the various acts of the characters. In ‘This is how you lose her’, Junot Diaz uses a wide variety of words that are only used within the Latin American or Hispanic community. The dialect of Diaz is described as ‘Spanglish’, yet he uses a mixture of languages such as: hip-hop, sci-fi and makes allusions to the drug culture as well. There are number uses of slang terms that are supposed to add a touch of modernity; the authors have used words like ‘salcedena’ and ‘sucia’, in order to introduce the readers to the culture of the character. At another instance, they make another stereotype when describing the character’s sexual encounter. The author elaborates the Dominican stereotype, according to which Yunior is constantly tempted by his friends to cheat on his girlfriend but somehow he always managed to remain faithful to her under the simple pretext that ‘he was into Magda for real’ (Diaz, 2012, p. 7). This further gives insight that Dominican men were quite ready to shift their affections to another woman, if their needs were not met by their current partner, but the protagonist seems like an exception. In the novel ‘We the animals’, Justin Torres uses a similar tone to introduce the role of ethnicity. At a time in the plot, the boy’s come home from school and their father is cooking. At this point we see the role of heritage; Paps turns on the radio and implodes with cultural dancing (Torres, 2011, P.p 8-9). Asking the boys at times to dance like they are white than asking them to dance as if they were Puerto Rican. The kids in ‘We the animals’ are a mixed race couple, their ethnicity sets them apart from the other children around them. At a given instance when they are dancing with their father he degrades them for being half Puerto Rican and half Americans, therefore putting them down for something they personally chose. On a Concluding note, both authors have made their ethnic cultures prominent. By shedding great light in to the family structure and romantic involvement of their people. The development of the characters, their chronologies, is the timeline of the plot. Apart from the age difference, they both commonly share the element of pain and growth. Sexuality is another key theme that is eminent in both the plots. Naturally while discussing romance, the topic cannot be devoid of sex, which is treated quite differently in Latin American cultures. For Diaz, sex is indeed one of the major themes of her novel, as her protagonist explores the level of promiscuity that exists in his community and also explores his own sexuality in the process. As sex is the symbol of love; however, at times it also becomes an emblem of the lustful nature of humans. Torres illustrates a portion in the plot in which the father is giving the boys a bath and then later on, turns to make love to his wife in front of his children. Diaz on the other hand introduces Yunior as a salacious personality, as he is in the process of looking for true love, he still cheats on his fiancee over a period of time. Yunior is seen on a repeating circle of destructive behavior as he gets caught again cheating on his love with fifty women over a six year period. In a culture dominated by casual sex, Diaz’s book explores this aspect from the point of view of a cheater. It proves that honesty from men is not easy and men can never be candid about this aspect. In both the novels, the progress and development of the characters is vital. Both the characters, despite the sexual exposure they get at such young ages are able to come out of these situations in the best possible ways. Torres transitions from using the word ‘we’ prominently to ‘they’ and finally to ‘I’, showing a change in the narrated character and depicting that his personality has taken a form and is independent of his surroundings. How the brother were together in the beginning of the story when they started in their course of adventure, due to a final change in events from childhood to adulthood. Diaz on the other hand portrays Yunior as an eccentric and prurient character, who in the greed for lust has no regard for the consequences. ‘I didn’t want her to leave me’ a quote from Yunior, whose character shows a continuous change when it comes to losing his loved one. The characters transition in life, their experiences change their personality and they at the conclusion develop a personal identity. ‘Everything easy between me and my brother and my mother and father was lost’, what started out as a loving family turned into one beyond reckoning. Similarly said about Yunior, as he started with his love and ended in failure. In conclusion, both Diaz and Torres have displayed similar works displaying the life of minorities. The sense of realism is brought to life by the themes and stereotypes. Sex, culture and profanity, though these elements may vary from person to person. They have used some of the most contemporary aspects of the society, to create a story that is both relatable and understandable, and coaxes the reader into acknowledging as to why such behavior is not acceptable. It can be taken as a silent reproach for the behavior of the contemporary society, in which sex is taken extremely casually as a result people find it hard to remain faithful to their partners. Works Cited Diaz, Junot. ‘This is how you lose her’. New York, USA, Penguin Group. 2012 Torres, Justin. ‘We the Animals’. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2011 Read More