Megan Beers Blog #3 Period 3 Clinch

            On Friday in AP literature our class started our short story bootcamp unit. We were put into groups and assigned a story and become experts on. Right now my group is working on the short story Fiesta, by Junot Diaz. This story revolves around a latino family who immagrated to the United States from the Dominacn Republic. This story is told from the point of veiw of the youngest son, Junior, who yearns for his abusive father's affection and is conflicted with his unclear idendentity. Junior is also faced with burden of keeping his father's secret about his mistress. Throughout the novel Diaz uses element of the Latino culture to show the true identity of Junoir and his family.
            One of the major parts of the Latino culture used in the story is the spanish dailect. During the "fiesta" many of Junior's relatives call him "Yunior" which emphasizes the soft "j" sound in certain Spanish dialects; and Junior regularly inserts Spanish words and phrases within his dialect. By iserting these words, Diaz is trying emphasize the family's love toward their heirtage and the pride that they have towards using these words in their everyday speech. I believe the lannguage is also used to convey the sheer size of the father's affair. In the story they refer to his mistress as "sucia" which translates to "dirty female." This term definately reveals Juniors feelings toward his father's unfaithful actions. The woman has no other identity, and by associtation Junior's father is also tainted. Overall throughout the story the conotation of the words said about the father is negative and dirty, and Diaz uses the Spanish words to emphasize the how the father's actions affects the family.
             Throughout the story Diaz uses gestures to emphasize the emotional significance within certain events. one of the main gestures displayed is, Juniors vomiting spells in his father's van. In the story the reader is told that Junior only throws up in his father's van, which alerts the reader that there is a deeper meaning into the vomiting. Later we are also told that Junior first met his father's mistress after a trip in the van. This explains his how his illness is linked to an emotional factor. Everytime he enters the van he associates the van with his father infidelity. He attempts to hide and keep in the truth which cause him to reject whatever he can. This can be a form of catharsis, which means "The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions." Instead of releasing his emotions about his father's affair, junior chooses to hold it in and releases his meals instead of the truth.
            One of the major themes throughout this short story is search for identity. A key element to the story is Junior's want for affection from his father. Junior is named after is father which shows a clear connection between the two of them. Junior recieves the most punishment out of all the kids, from the father, which also leads to his yearning for affection from him.