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| Junot Diaz |
1. Did any characters change during the course of the book? How did they change? Was this positive or negative? What forces in the story caused this change?
2. Do you think the title fits the story told in the book? Explain why or why not. If you had to create a title for this book, what would it be and why would you choose this title?
3. What, in your opinion, has the author done well in this book? Explain fully and give examples.
4. What life lessons did you learn or take away from reading this book? How has it changed you or your way of thinking?
5. Would you have liked a different ending? Why? Write the ending.
6. Analyze the author’s style, tone, or word choice.
In the story "Invierno"" by Junot Diaz,the narrator and his family moved to America from an Island. Usually the narrator's brother would act like a wild animal but ever since they moved his brother changed and started to act like a good boy. The brother begins to listen to his father when he is told to stay inside. Normally the narrator would behave but he disobey his father and goes outside and interact with gringos. Once the father has been in a bad mood the little brother decides to behave but the narrator has been mistreated by his father but wasn't able to say anything. The father was basically controlling over the family that he keeps them away from the outside world.
ReplyDeleteThe author helps paints a picture of what is happening. When the narrator is forced to be bald by his father, he had no say and was neglected since his father didn't care. Emotions were brought out when the narrator said that he wants his father to like him to. The author uses explicit language which allows you to feel exactly how the son feels. If my parents used that language towards me I would feel sad like he did. The author makes his point clear about his experience of winter as a child.
-Candace Campo
I agree with you that the father pressed his family's members' emotion down since they moved in. In my opinion, he didn't act like a father but a controller. In this story, I can't rarely find any moment when he show his caring toward his wife and his sons. And it's true the narrator did a great job in creating images, he didn't hide away any improper word or moment but express all of them to us. like what you said, this is the reason why we can feel exactly how the characters feel.
DeleteI think the title Invierno fits the short story perfectly. Invierno means “winter” in Spanish. This is appropriate for two reasons: the setting of the story was during the winter and the coldness of winter symbolizes the changes that happened in the family. Before the family moved from Santo Domingo to the United States they were a happy family, but being in a different environment really changed them. “Rafa’s temper got worse… we fought and fought and fought and after my mother pried us apart, instead of making up like the old days, we sat scowling on opposite sides of our room and planned each other’s demise”. In a way the “old days” could be represented by summer or the spring because those were the times when they actually behaved like a family. Their current situation is Invierno, or cold. Their behavior towards one another could be described as cold.
ReplyDelete- Mobolaji Arogundade
I agree with you, Invierno is a perfect title for the story. Thanks for reminding me what "Invierno" means in Spanish, I did not even realized that. Winter represents the situation the family is facing in a new environment, and represents their marriage- the mom and the dad's relationship. With the absence of the dad throughout the story, his relationship with the mom became cold.
DeleteThe short stroy “Invierno” by Junot Diaz is a great story which can refer to my own experience toward my first week in America, I changed a lot by the influence of new things. In this story, Yunior’s mother had changed through the story, not because she have to face new environment in America, but because the relationship issues that force her to feel depressed. At the beginning of the story, author describe her as a curious women who desires to learn new things, that she tried so hard to learn English words from TV even after her husband criticize her pronunciation. And she really want to meet with her husband’s friends in order to talk and feel not lonely. However, as she realize she will never has the chance to join the conversation of her husband and his friends, she feel more alone than ever. Also, she realize her husband doesn’t care about the family that much, that he even left his family to face the snow storm by themself. Toward the end of the story., she kind of lost her faith in her new life environment, and gradually developed the hobbit to walk by herself.
ReplyDeleteI think the title “Invierno” really fits the story, not because the story sets the winter season as the background, but also the story’s emotion can apply to winter’s cold. In my opinion, unlike other seasons, winter is fill with cold snow and lack of energy, which can apply to this story, that main character Yunior and his brother spend most of their time watch TV instead play snow fight with others. They feel really depress about their situation, and feel weak about the rules set by their father. What’s even colder is their father doesn’t have the zeal to take care his family but pay all his attention in his work. If I had to create a title for his story, my title will be “Dilemma”, which apply to their situation.
I like how you put that you can refer to your own experience. I'm sure it's hard to deal with all the new changes at first but things do get better. You described a very good character in the book. Their mother really did change a lot and she did it for her kids as well. I agree that the title does fit the story and your title was also good as well. They really do have a dilemma.
DeleteIn “Invierno” by Junot Diaz, we see that Rafa has changed during the course of the book. When he lived on the Island he was usually an animal. Now that Rafa’s at his father’s house he completely changed into “some kind of muchacho bueno” according to his brother, Yunior. He would completely listen to his father and stay inside no matter what. What his brother doesn’t realize is that Rafa is growing up. This change made him unrecognizable because it just isn’t him. The effect of moving from a nice warm weather placed to a cold isolated place took a toll in his life.
ReplyDeleteThe title is good for this story. It is “Invierno” which is a Spanish word for winter. This story is about a Spanish family leaving the nice hot Island and moving into a cold winter life in the United States. If I had to create a title for this book it would be “The Cold Hopes of Going Back”. Rafa, Yunior and their mother are stuck in the cold apartment isolated from everyone. Yunior and his mother have not found it easy to deal with all of that. They are hoping to go back to the Islands, and away from the winter snow.
-Michelle Quito
I agree with you, Rafa did change and became more mature. This is due to the fact that they moved. I like the new title you created for the story. It would go along with the story because both Yunior and his mother want to go back to their island. Although they know they will not go back anytime they still do not loose hopes of going back one day.
DeleteIn the short story "Invierno", Yunior and his family moved to New Jersey from Santo Domingo during the winter. The first day that Yunior's father picked them up from the JFK airport to the new apartment, they all seem excited and looking forward to the new life in United States. Throughout the whole story, Yunior's father is controlling over the family. Yunior Rafa (his brother) and his mother are confined to the house, not allow to go anywhere. Rafa's temper began to become worse, " I would tug at his hair, an old game of ours, and he would explode, We fought and fought and fought and after my mother pried us apart, instead of making up like the old days, we sat scowling on opposite sides of our room and planned each other 's demise." It was just an old game of theirs but Rafa got angry.
ReplyDeleteWhile the kids and the father adapt to the state, the mom was having difficulties adapt to the new environment. The mom became depressed and lonely, "she had no friends, no neighbors to visit. You should talk to me, she said, but we told her to wait for Papi to get home. He'll talk to you, I guaranteed." She was away from family, friends and neighbor; her family became her only support. The mom can only obey to the Dad because he was more culturally adapted. "My mother was not a woman easily cowed, but in the Stats, she let my father roll over her." She became powerless in her marriage.
I think the author done well on the use of emotionalism, and the portrayal of the mom. The short story was packed with emotions. The author purposely placed the emotional highlight at the end, when the dad announced that he won't be able to get back home due to the snowstorm. The emotion of the mom got stronger gradually after the phone call. At first, she stayed silent and then she stepped out of the house, symbolized that she breaks free from the control of her husband. Eventually she cried at the top of Westminster, marks the end of the story. I like how the author, began with "the top of Westminster" and ended at the same spot. Moreover, the author was good at creating images. "but when Papi was breathing down my neck, his hand on a belt, I couldn't perform; I looked at my father like my laces were live wires he wanted me to touch together." I can almost feel the tense atmosphere with his description. The dialogues that the author placed in the story are so powerful, the words speak for themselves. "It's better to shave it all off, Papi said. I have some other things that might work. Papi looked at his watch. Shave it." From this short conversation, I can tell that the dad is stiff and impatient.
In the story “Invierno” written by Junot Diaz, the author done pretty well in describe the experience after Yunior came to the United States few weeks with his mother and Rafa. Diaz provide many detail about Yunior’s daily life with his family. Such as describe how the father control whole family by not letting Yunior and his brother going out to play with other children, punish them for not being quiet, critize Yunior for not able to tie his shoelaces, force Yunior to cut his hair. He also describe how the mother feel lonely and depress when she had no one to communicate with and feel sad when her husband leaving at night who doesn’t stay with the family during horrible snowstorm. And the author shows the transition made from Rafa, who was once an energetic person and now bacame a quiet and gentle boy. Even when he saw his brother gone outside, he stay in the apartment to watch.
ReplyDeleteFrom the story “Invierno” I learn that no matter where you are you should always take care and stick with your family. Obviously the father in story doesn’t apply this to his family, he never care about other people’s feeling who never allow his children connect with outside world, do things on his own who doesn’t care his wife been depress and lonely, left his family in danger of a snowstorm which cause his wife and children leaving their house in the end.
"Invierno" by Junot Diaz is a story about a family moving from Santo Domingo to New Jersey. Throughout the story we see how some of the characters change. In the beginning of the story Yunior, Rafa, and the mother are scared of the father. All three of them do as the father says so they would not get in trouble. In the beginning both Yunior and Rafa got in trouble with their father. Although Yunior knows the consequences of what is actions could bring he does not change. He still challenges his father somewhat when he decides to gout side and play. While Yunior does this Rafa stays home and obeys his father. Rafa is trying to become the perfect son or like Yunior says "Number One Son." This is a negative change because although Rafa is becoming more mature he is also becoming like his father. Another person that changes in the story is the mother. The mother also listened to her husband and did not dare to disobey him. This leads to her feeling lonely and depressed. At the end of the story she decides to go out and explore her surroundings. She does this once her husband leaves to work so she won't get in trouble. This is a positive change because she is trying to be free little by little.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story we see how the family is being put down by the father. To the reader it is clear that the father is in charge and that what he says has to be done. We can also see that his family is scared of him. This story is an example of what some families go through, especially if they are from a foreign country. In each country people live differently and what may seem wrong to us, is correct for them. This is a lifestyle in which many people adapt to. This story has taught me that everyone lives differently and according to how they were raised as a child. It shows that not everyone in your family is going to be supportive. You have to find a way in which you can be happy, even if that means standing up against someone you respect or care about.
In Invierno by Junot Diaz the speaker talks about his family's move to America. He talks about how is was such a change for them in a new place that they have never been before. He talks about how he tried leaving the house but the father didn't let him. I can completely relate to this story because its exactly how i felt when i went to mexico one year. No body let me leave out of the house because of the fear that i would be kidnapped. I got into arguments with my family because of this. It helped me understand what was going on in the story more because i knew how it felt. The author did a great job by fully explaining the way he felt, as i could relate to him. I truly believe that the title could have been changed to "New Life" because it truly was a new life for the narrator, and it would have also helped me understand what was going on in the story quicker.
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