the traditional family
hena
TheTraditionalFamilies.docxThe Traditional Families
In Fiesta 1980 the story is about the latin families live in America. The narrator Ynior and his siblings ( his sister madai, older brother Rafa and his parents which he called them papi and mami) are getting ready to attend his aunt’s party. Ynior has a car sickness which lead him punished from vomiting in the car and to be treated in an aggressive way by his father. Abusive behaviour of his father to him and to the whole family caused him to have anxiety and psychological problems the narrator tend to think that his parent’s marriage is unhappy because of unfaithful behaviour of his father. The narrator has a strong connection and love with his mother. The story articulate that the secret and abusive way of traditional families lives with.
The father is dominant and the decision maker in the family. This is one theme the author uses in developing the story. The father decide everything by his own, he never talked with his wife or children about any issue which rises among the family. He is aggressive and abuser, however his wife is kind and take care of the children and husband on top of obeying him as if that’s what she was supposed to be. He punished his children inorder to obey him for instance, “ expected your undivided attention when you were getting your ass whupped. You couldn’t look in the eye either---that wasn’t allowed. Better to stare at his belly button, which was perfectly round and immaculate. Papi pulled me to my feet by my ear. ” he punished them physically, if they made any mistake he beats them and whenever he did this they don't have the right to say something or the treatment is not right. “The time the damage was pretty minimal, nothing papi couldn’t was off the door with a blast of the house. He was pissed, though; he jammed his finger into my cheek, a nice solid thrust. That was the way he was with his punishments: imaginative.” even though the mistake isn’t that bad his father doesn't try to find out why it happened in a peaceful and calm way he uses the aggressive way of punishment to express that he suppose to be respected, this indicates that he ruled the house traditionally, also this is the way he treated them and they accepted to be treated like this.
Keeping secrets among the family are another theme the author uses in developing the story. The narrator and his brother Rafa know that the father cheated on their mother, however they both keep this secret from their mother “ He didn’t say nothing to nobody, not even my moms. He just pushed past her, held up his hand when she tried to talk to him and headed right into the shower. Rafa gave me the look and I gave it back to him; we both knew papi had been with that Puerto Rican women he was seeing and wanted to wash off the evidence quick.” the narrator and Rafa know their father was with the puerto Rican women but they pretend that they don’t know anything about the relationship. “ I didn’t say anything to Mami either. She watched me, very very closely. Later I would think, maybe if I had told her, she would have confronted him, would have done something, but who can know these things? I said I’d been having trouble in school and like that everything was back to normal between us. Rafa knows his father had mistress however he doesn’t want to tell his mother because he cares about mami’s feelings also he doesn’t want them to fight and arguments to happen between them.
Their father’s abusive behaviour is another secret kept by the family. When the narrator went to the party to his aunt’s house she asked him how they are doing at home, “ How is it going in the apartment? Are you kids OK? I knew an interrogation when in heard one, no matter how sugar-coated it was. I didn't say anything. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Tia, but something told me to keep my mouth shut. Maybe it was family loyalty, maybe i just wanted to protect mami or I was afraid that papi would find out -- it could have been anything really.” aunt knows that something is wrong in the house but he was not volunteer to share it with her about their fathers behaviour. Even though he tells her about his father's behaviour nothing is going to change. Although the family seems that they accepted their father’s behaviour and ok to live with that. Abuse in families are common but a lot of families don’t want to talk because they would like to hide the fact that their family is not perfect.
Everytime the children leave the house the mother blessed them. The author uses simile in order to create an image in the reader's mind that mami have a concrete religious beliefs that her blessing will protect her children from anything bad. “ By the time my ear stopped stinging papi was dressed and mami was crossing each one of us, solemnly, like we were heading off to war.” the author is trying to describe how sacred mami feels about her blessing when the family is leaving the house is important also the children understands the importance of her blessing as they respond.
Mami was excited to spend a wonderful time in her sister’s party and she was happy until the father came home. The author uses simile to paint images that papi didn’t give maim attention, care and love she deserved. “ I wanted to dance, she said, but now, with the sun sliding out of the sky like spit off a wall,” even though mami was in a good mood and had a feeling to dance and relax by the time her husband came home she loses all her happiness because she expected to get the love and care from her husband, her husband seems like more careless. His aggressive behaviour changed the atmosphere of the room.
Even though mami gained some healthy weight since the family moved to America, she still look beautiful. The narrator uses another simile to describe mami’s beauty. “ She had cut her hair short and was wearing tons of cheap - ass jewelry which on her didn’t look too lousy. She smelled like herself, like the wind through a tree.” the narrator describes that mami looks so beautiful that the haircut and the jewelry she wears makes her more stylish and sexy. Although the perfume she wears gives her more feminine and fresh scent.
The characters use foriegn language in phrases and words. We can understand that the characters are non American family or English is not their first language.
“You didn’t let him eat, did you?”
“Ay , Dios mio, she said , letting her arms fall to her side.”
“Ay, Dios mio is right, Papi said.”
Papi turned to me. Cono, muchacho, why did you eat?
“Como te sientes? Mami asked over my shoulder…….”
“….. She was no longer the same flace who had
Even though the characters can speak english effectively, the author wants to indicate to the readers that these families are from latino also for the readers to think about latino’s culture through it.
The narrator uses slang when he had a conversation with his peers or brother. The author gives us a clue to know that the narrator is a teenager in the 1980's.
“I pushed Rafa. thanks a lot, ass-face.”
“It’s the only pussy you’ll ever get, Rafa said to me in English.”
“……. You nearly got your ass kicked.”
“He’s a dick, I said.”
The narrator using this words clues us that he is probably a teenager, since adults and young children not using slang, also we can understand teenager in the 1980's and teenagers in the current time tend to change over time.
To conclude in Fiesta 1980 the author uses two main theme which is secret and tradition among families to develop the story, also he uses simile inorder to put an image in the reader's mind and to describe beauty, femeninine, sadness and feeling sadness happened in the characters. Language and slang are also uses in characters of the story which enables us to understand their originality also might be related to their tradition better.
Work cited
Bob Blaisdell. “FIESTA, 1980: In Drown Junot Diaz.” The Radical Teacher, no. 51, 1997, p. 42. EBSCOhost,search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.20709934&site=eds-live.
