Rejection of one’s culture is not unusual for families who immigrate to new countries, especially to the United States. It’s a consistent theme with people who are raised or spend their developing years in the US, where many times their perceptions of their own people start to change based on their new perception of what is “cool” and “trendy”.
This is seen in Diaz’s “Fiesta, 1980” where Yunior describes his mom’s “cheap ass jewelry which on her didn’t look too lousy” (24). Later on, his Tia’s furniture is named a “Contemporary Dominican Tacky” (32). The teenager’s narrative voice expresses his feelings without any censorship. He is sarcastic and includes curse words which indicate a casual voice very common for most kids growing up in the United States, where the use of slang is sprinkled throughout his narration. There is also a sense of superiority on his part, where his opinions about these two women being stuck with old styles that are unfit for the new culture seem to be very prevalent in his mind.
This rejection of cultural tastes creates a separation between the assimilated youth and older members of the family. Whether it is because of monetary confinement or simply a different taste, these women’s taste is probably scrutinized not only by their own family member, but by society as well. Yunior’s perspective was probably adopted in New York when he saw what others wore and heard people’s comments about them too. . The mother’s demonstrated rejection throughout the story also demonstrates how difficult it is for her to change her opinion about her new home.
Hi Ashley! I like your analysis, and I agree, I think rejecting one’s origin also has a lot to do with how we internalize other’s perceptions of us. Yunior specifically perhaps does not have positive notions of Dominican identity, because his family is what keeps him connected to the DR, but his relationship to them is complicated and somewhat toxic leading him to have a complex stance on his heritage.
Additionally, your words reminded me of W.E.B. DuBois’ “Double Consciousness,” whose analysis is based on how a racialized subject will judge oneself through the eyes of their oppressor. Considering US white society is in charge of creating notions of desirability in Yunior’s context, I wonder whether he really held those critical tastes, or perhaps it was his already poised “American” eyes, leading him to submit to standards of desirability dictated by US society and reject his own.
Hi Ashley! I agree, peer pressure and conformity really lend themselves to a really weird culture, which Canada too can be guilty of at times. I feel like the sense of superiority becomes taught through the cinema and propaganda created by the United States to justify their interventionist policies in foreign affairs. The idea that the democratic status quo shouldn’t be challenged seems to seep into social affairs causing the differences of culture to also be a threat to someones own self identity. All these factors then seem to exemplify through peer pressure for immigrant children where it results in a negative relation to ones cultural roots. To circumvent this, I really think celebrating differences should be a bigger focus in our society, so that hopefully, some of these values trickle down into the younger audiences.
Nice reflections on assimilation and youth! I wonder if the sort of loving contemplation of the photo of his mother demonstrates a changing relationship to the DR…