Junot Diaz and Female Stereotypes

Junot Diaz shows a form of masculinity that is often excessively masculine. His male characters are prone to violence and sexual escapades in an attempt to obtain or further solidify their state of manhood. While there is a one sided view of masculinity in Diaz’s stories, his female characters tend to fall in to two main groups. His women are either mothers who are the only parent figure or simple whores, sometimes nameless altogether. These are both common stereotypes for women as is the fatherless and violent image for men of color, particularly Latinos.  Diaz seems to thrive on stereotypes for both genders which is usually detrimental in literature. However, his picture of women as either mother or whore is not necessarily a negative depiction of the women in his stories. 

            In Diaz’s story, “Ysrael”, Rafa and Yunior’s mother has shipped them out to the country for the summer because she is a single parent and works long hours. She thinks she is doing a good thing by sending her sons for a summer with their uncle. She is the typical working mother who tries to do what is best for her children but is too tired to do it by herself.

Later in the story, Rafa talks about all the girls he has had sexual encounters with while staying at their uncles. These girls are coming into their own sexuality which is the same thing as what Rafa is doing, but women in literature who are exploring their sexuality outside of a relationship are often pegged as whores. Many readers write these girls off as Diaz forcing women into the whore image, but he is showing the same thing through Rafa. It is a double standard and it is the readers job to use the text to move beyond it.

 

            In Diaz’s story, “No Face”, the whore image is not present but the mother image is in the background. Ysrael’s mother makes him put on the mask in the end to protect him from his father picking at him. She takes care of his little brother even while Ysrael is left alone. She is the mother figure and tries to care for her children. She is a more complex mother figure though because by trying to protect her son she accidently isolates him further.

 

            In Diaz’s story, “Negocios”, the whore image is present in the beginning of the story when Ramon is having an affair with an unnamed temptress.  The next woman in the story is Mami. She is the ultimate mother image. She loves her children and hates their father for the affair. She continues to have complex emotions about her marriage even after Ramon leaves for America. She is more complex than the simple mother/whore image that Diaz is so often accused of perpetuating in literature.

Many people claim that Diaz does not respect women or see their full complexity. I strongly disagree. It would be easy to say that Diaz only shows two versions of women in his stories. However, while the recurring image of mothers and whores is there, his characters are all more complex than a stereotype would normally allow.