Masculinity revolves in most societies and has been passed down from generation to generation. In Latin culture gender roles were established by society and ultimately deemed men superior to women. In the novel Drown by Junot Diaz, the author portrays in two of the stories “Fiesta” and “Drown” how the protagonist, Yunior, is influenced by the messages he receives about intersectionality along with masculinity and machismo. Diaz reveals how men are influenced to follow masculine norms and are literally “drowned” by masculinity. These examples provided by the world around Yunior force him to act as a "man" should. In this collection of short stories, "men" are associated with demonstrating dominance over women, embracing their strong male pride, and demonstrating a firm prejudice against homosexual people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The protagonist's older brother, Rafa, sets an example of how a man should behave by constantly making inappropriate comments involving women. In “Fiesta,” Rafa expresses “She's the only pussy you'll ever have,” hinting at how he's already making inappropriate comments to Yunior, despite his young age (Diaz 31). The audience can see the clear masculinity in Rafa's words, as he uses the word "cunt" to refer to sexual intercourse with a woman. Nonetheless, Rafa continues to exemplify his masculinity in this narrative by wanting to interact with Leti and Mari. At this point, the reader can deduce how Yunior begins to express his masculinity as mentioned later “Leti had some serious tetas and I could tell my brother was about to shoot her (Diaz 32).” Yunior begins to show how he expresses the message he receives from Rafa about women. The protagonist couldn't have that dirty mind towards women at such a young age. Rafa's remarks lead Yunior to start thinking about women in a sexual way. At the same time, Rafa demonstrates gender roles to Yunior by presenting women as inferior to men through his terminology. The way Rafa expresses women makes Yunior start to think of them very similarly. Yunior's father vividly illustrates his masculinity and machismo through his actions, which impact the protagonist's definition of what it means to be a man. In “Fiesta” from the beginning the audience is informed of Yunior's father's disloyalty towards his wife. The protagonist's mother is continually mistreated and oppressed by her father throughout the course of the story. The father's dominance is best seen when he says "He doesn't eat" and Yunior points out "Mami pretended to help Rafa with the pernil (Diaz 37)." This shows how his father dominates and limits Yunior's mother's voice. The father's machismo, together with his masculinity, represents an example for the protagonist to follow. During the party Yunior starts thinking about his mother and how happy she was. He states, “Suddenly I wanted to come closer and hug her, for the sole reason that I loved her, but there were about eleven fat bodies moving among us (Diaz 41-42). Yunior undoubtedly loves his mother, yet it seems that his strong masculine pride prevents him from expressing his feelings for her. The audience may conclude that the “eleven fat bodies moving” are an obstacle for Yunior to demonstrate his love for her. Instead he internalizes the sudden need to show affection to his mother as he has essentially absorbed the message of masculinity that his father has put out. The protagonist refuses to express his great love for his mother in front of everyone, otherwisehe would just go and do it. Yunior's masculine behavior along with machismo starts to be seen more in "Drown" as he is now older. Yunior begins to present himself as the man in charge of the house and has asserted dominance over his beloved mother. When the protagonist encounters his mother talking to his father on the phone, he says: “I meet her and hang up. Enough, I say” (Diaz 101). Yunior expresses his masculinity by establishing himself as the man of the house and wants to be his mother's new provider. Now that his father is out of the picture, it seems Yunior wants his mother to depend on him now. The audience sees another sign of Yunior's masculinity when he argues with his mother about Beto pursuing him. He gets angry and replies, “Notice my arms tighten.” showing his power and attempting to assert his authority over her (Diaz 95). His masculinity is seen as he doesn't want to have anything with Beto after his sexual incident with him. Yunior also displays machismo as he describes how he is in charge and she needs to stay quiet. She demonstrates her idea of ​​women's position in society by illustrating that she has authority over hers. His father's past messages of authority over women shaped the protagonist to become this way towards his mother. The protagonist's homophobia becomes a problem when he discovers that his best friend, Beto, turns out to be gay. As a child, Yunior received messages about women from his brother Rafa as readers can relate to “Fiesta”. His brother made sexual comments about women and this caused Yunior to think like him. This causes Yunior to grow up with a strong prejudice against homosexuals. At the beginning of "Drown", Yunior uses the offensive term "pato" to refer to Beto and this demonstrates his homophobia. Yunior says: "I mostly stayed in the basement, terrified of becoming abnormal, a fucking idiot, but he was my best friend and then that mattered to me more than anything" and shows the audience how against being queer, but he cared more about his friendship (Diaz 104). However, Yunior's homophobia remains present and their friendship ends after sharing an explicit moment together. Yunior states, “We sat in front of his television, in our towels, his hands resting on my abdomen and thighs" (Diaz 105). That moment leads Yunior to be terrified and leads him to no longer want to communicate with Beto. Yunior wants to dissociate himself from Beto because he is gay to reassure his his own sexual preferences. The constant insults directed at gay men throughout the story are simply a way of illustrating his masculinity. His strong masculine pride leads him to consider homosexuals as not real "men". The intersectionality of class and masculinity impacts Yunior's idea of ​​what a man truly is. In “Fiesta,” Yunior remembers his father's car, “Brand new, lime green and bought to impress (Diaz 27). The author portrays the relationship between class and masculinity through his father's van to reveal the message Yunior receives about being a man. Yunior states that the van was "bought to impress" and relates to masculinity through how men like to "show off". The bright color of the van only draws more attention on people and helps to impress the father on women. Cars are usually associated with masculine men and attracting the attention of women. The reader can conclude how the van is associated with Yunior's father's lover. According to Adultery and the Immigrant Narrative by Natalie Friedman, “The van, a symbol of the family's growing prosperity in the United States, is a source of pride for the father, but a nuisance for Yunior, whose sensitive stomach is a figurative barometer.