The short story “Fiesta” by Junnot Diaz is an interesting story narrated by the young main character. However; the character is a kid and the way he is having complicated experiences at his own home, makes the reader to be more sensitive. I found a bit alarming the fact that Yunor, the character, is aware of his own dad cheating on her mother and with cynicism , his dad brings him into her lover’s house a few times. In addition, one can understand that the father is enforcing a patriarchal rule in the house and he is the one who runs everything. Also, Yunor explains how his dad sometimes smacks him or beats him if he misbehaves and the mother seems not to have enough power to control the father’s temper. From my personal view, I found the story had many intense moments and what makes it more complicated, is the fact that they are an Immigrant family. Personally, I liked the story; however I found tragic that the main character had to deal with constant conflict.
Hi Maria! Thank you for your post.
I wondered about whether the mother didn’t have enough power to stop the father’s abuse, or whether she was actually complicit. Of course she didn’t seem very happy about the situation and didn’t necessarily encourage the abuse or anything like that – but I never felt like she was particularly fighting for Yunor, and even if she couldn’t physically do anything, there seemed to be a lack of effort. Perhaps this effort was implicit and I missed it, however!