Cultural Dissemination

This is a view into the eyes of someone who is a cultural anomaly--one who doesn't entirely relate to his home culture, nor the culture he's been thrust into since leaving it due to the immigration of his family in the middle of his childhood. Understanding certain integral differences between the United States and Santo Domingo, the main character depicts a noncommittal account that does not claim any proprietary culture, but rather describes the intertwining of remnant traditions of his original home and new ones that he's encountered in the United States, and the immigrant culture that represents a fusion between the two that his family inevitably becomes involved with. This is a brief summation of what the fiesta was meant to represent, with the family values and cultural gathering (complete with Latin food and music) remininscent of his home, but with marked Americanized differences (such as his aunt's Lee press-on nails). Taking this a step further, with a father that he loves -"It wasn't really working, but I looked forward to those trips, even though I would always end up sick" (p. 35)- respects, and fears -"Chickenshit or not, did I not dare glance at him" (p.26)-who has pioneered his family to their new home and greater potential, Yunior grapples with the morbid realities of betrayal and human imperfection by the same person who is considered the savior and benefactor of everyone he loves, apparent in parts such as, "I don't remember being out of sorts when I met the Puerto Rican woman, but I must have been because Mami only asked me questions when she thought that something was wrong in my life" (p. 42). He acknowledged it passively as a severe aberration in his life in the sentence, "The affair was like a hole in our living room floor, once we gotten so used to circumnavagating it, we almost forgot it was there" (p. 39-40). Continuing only through the strong hope and desire that his father's adultery will be rendered non-issue by the immutable love that his parents may share, as seen in "I tried to imagine Mami before Papi. Maybe I was tired, or just sad, thinking about the way my family was...it seemed like Papi was always with her, even while we were waiting in Santo Domingo for him to send for us," (p. 41) the main character renders a picture that cleverly and tenderly presents poignant issues of growing up a United States immigrant.