In Junot Diaz's collection of short stories titled Drown, the male protagonists of the stories project their ideas about masculinity onto the women with whom they interact. The resulting force is a toxic overcompensation that affects every daily interaction, whether with children, friends, wives, or strangers. The exaggerated machismo evident throughout the book is not only representative of social norms, but also speaks specifically to the experience of men and women within Dominican culture. Gloria Anzaldua comments on and critiques similar traditions that exist in her culture in excerpts from her book Borderlands/La Frontera, in which she discusses the nuances of race and gender as they relate to one's cultural identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In her book, Anzaldua writes in a combination of Spanish and English to simultaneously criticize, alienate, and engage her readers. Her use of "Spanglish" allows her to create a space for herself to express her opinion that does not exist in either the Chicano or White American cultures around her. Additionally, her focus on boundaries, particularly those that exist between languages, cultures, and genders, allows her to highlight how many people don't fit into either side of a binary. This is an issue that heavily affects the Latino immigrant community in the United States because assimilation into the American way of life marks them as traitors to their culture, despite the fact that they are never fully accepted by American culture, no matter what they sacrifice. Women are even more affected because, according to Anzaldua, "culture is created by men in power" (Anzaldua 1018). While men struggle to find an identity in their new environment, women are not even welcome in their own culture. Anzaldua states, “nothing about my culture approved of me” and “every ounce of self-confidence I had painstakingly gathered took a hit every day” (Anzaldua 1018). She was discouraged from pursuing interests such as “studying, reading, painting, writing,” and her refusal to fulfill the role of a housewife led her family to consider her “lazy” (Anzaldua 1018). Because men are inherently powerful in its culture, they are able to “establish the rules and laws” while “women pass them on” (Anzaldua 1018). This means that although women do not play a role in creating the ideological beliefs of their culture, they reify them through their behavior. A woman in Chicano culture is a good ideological subject by “denying herself in favor of the male” and “remaining a virgin until she marries” (Anzaldua 1018). Women also verbally perpetuate oppressive behaviors against their gender by teaching their daughters to be submissive to men. Anzaldua demonstrates this point by referring to her own personal experience: How many times have I heard mothers and mothers-in-law tell their children to beat their wives for not obeying, for being hoccionas (big mouths), for being callejeras (going to visit and gossip with neighbors), for expecting their husbands to help them with their children's education and household chores, for wanting to be something other than housewives? (Anzaldua 1018). This is exemplified in Diaz's short stories, as female characters are compliant towards men, even in the face of blatant disrespect. In Anzaldua's real world and the fictional world created by Drown, women are objectified in ways that serve men, whether they are sexualized or degraded in a way that allows men to eliminate their fears and frustrations without compromising theirmasculinity or power. .Perhaps one of the most notable symbols of gender discrimination in Drown is the constant sexualization of every female character the male protagonists encounter. This all begins at the beginning of the book, as the first story “Ysrael” features a young Rafa telling his brother, “Am I going crazy? Chinga all my girls and then chinga everyone else's” (Diaz 4). From an early age, boys are taught to see girls as sexual conquests rather than people. An example is in the story “How to Date a Brown Girl…” in which the narrator, who is assumed to be Yunior, attempts to give dating advice and assures the reader, “If it's a white girl, you know you'll at least get a hand work” (Diaz 144). Throughout this story, Yunior dehumanizes all the girls by stripping them of their individuality and seeing them simply as vessels for sex. “A local girl can have hips and a big ass, but he won't be quick to let you touch him... He might kiss you and then walk away, or he might, if he's reckless, give up... A white girl might give in right away." (Diaz 147). Furthermore, adult men encourage this behavior, as can be seen in the story "Fiesta, 1980", when Yunior's uncle Miguel tells him and his mother that "in Santo Domingo, he would have fucked by now" (Diaz 31). a rite of passage for men. Meanwhile, double standards in Latino culture create a paradoxical situation in which men are expected to have sex with women, who are looked down upon if they do not remain virgins until marriage. For this reason, men are allowed to speak much more openly about the women they interact with, while women are expected to remain private. For example, in the story "Edison, New Jersey", a casual conversation occurs between the narrator and his friend Wayne in which the narrator is asked, "Did you even get some?" and he replies, “Hell yes… Homegirl was an animal. I still have teeth marks” (Diaz 138). In each of the stories, men assert their masculinity and project their insecurities about their sexuality onto women, by controlling the narrative and dramatizing their sexual encounters in ways that make them seem powerful. Another way men overcompensate for their fragile masculinity is through physical violence against women wife in the story “Fiesta, 1980”, seen for the first time when she enters a room and Yunior says that “she didn't say anything to anyone, not even to my mother” (Diaz 23). physical is so obvious that Yunior describes her younger sister as “too scared to open her eyes” because “being with Papi all her life has turned her into a Major League wimp. Every time Papi raised her voice her lip it began to tremble, like a specialized tuning fork” (Diaz 26). Madai was taught submission to men from an early age, as the dynamic between her mother and father is her first example of a relationship. Physical violence is also a common theme in the story “Aurora,” which is primarily supposed to be about love. Lucero attempts to reconcile his abusive relationship with Aurora when he says, "she tried to stick a pen in my thigh one time, but that was the night I punched her black and blue in the chest, so I don't think it counts" (Diaz 53). In another scene, he juxtaposes a tender moment in which she "ran her nails down my side" with the statement, "a week from now she'd be asking me again, begging actually, telling me all the good things that we would do it and after a while I would hit her and do it.