Textual Analysis: How to Date a Brown Girl, Black Girl, White Girl, or Halfie - Book Report/Review Example

due: Textual Analysis: How to a Brown girl, Black girl, White girl, or Halfie The idea of stereotypes is to believe unfairly that all people or things with a specific facet are the same. The particular characteristics are, usually, superficial and shallow views that do not go beyond the surface of the individual. In the narrative How to Date a Brown girl, Black girl, White girl, or Halfie Junot Diaz narrates a story of a young Dominican man who wrote an instructional manual on how to date women from different ethnicities and races. This book contains steps that categorize people from different races and degrade them. The author uses symbolism, implication and the atmosphere of the story to show how being insecure about one self-identity and racial background is reflected in an individual’s superficial look of others and stereotyping them based on their racial backgrounds. The atmosphere that the writer outlines to the story is a consistent shallow and a disrespectful look on women. The indication of our protagonist superficiality is when the author states, “A local girl may have hips and a thick ass but she will not be quick about letting you touch” (Diaz 237), which shows that his interest in his date is mainly sexual and not for a true connection and intimacy. From a statement from his book which states, “Are you still waiting on that bitch? Say, hell yeah” (Diaz 236), totally indicates that he has no respect for women what’s so ever, this is noted from the foul language he uses when referring to women. The author also portrays the character as a pretender. In the book, he states “Wait for your brother and mother to leave the apartment. You have already told them that you are feeling too sick to go to the Union City to visit the tia who like to squeeze your nuts” (Diaz 235). Here he pretends to be sick and cannot go to the Union City. The character is also noted to be a liar. He lies to his family about his illness in the sentence, "You have already told them that you are feeling too sick to go to the Union City to visit the tia who like to squeeze your nuts” (Diaz 235). Widely stereotyping other people based on their racial backgrounds is one of the main points the author indicates. The character was judging his date based on her race, and this was noted when the author stated that, “If the girl is from around the way, take her to El Cibao for dinner. If she is not from around the way, Wendy’s will do” (Diaz 236). When the author talks of a girl from around the way he means being Latina or Black, and if not, then she is White. According to Diaz’s book, there is a statement that suggests that the white girl is cheap while others are not which is deeply racist. In addition the statement, “A local girl may have hips and a thick ass but she wont be quick about letting you touch. A white girl might just give it up right then” (Diaz 237), implies the stereotype that white girls are easy which is racist and simply disrespectful. In the story, stereotyping of others has a relation to one’s insecurity about one’s own identity and racial background. As an insecure person one will think that people judge and stereotype. So, this is reflected in the way he looks at people and in the way he judges them. Symbolism is used by the author to describe the insecurity of our protagonist when he masks and covers his current situation in a quote that states, “Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator” (Diaz 235). Which is a symbolism of our protagonist hiding his poverty and terrible situation from his date, and that indicates his insecurity and embarrassment. At the end of the narrative, the author states, “Put the government cheese back in its place before your mom’s kills you” (Diaz 237). It implies that he puts everything he was hiding from before back in its place after his date leaves which continue to show how he is insecure and embarrassed by his current lifestyle. In the story, the character was portrayed by the author as insecure of people judging on his family and culture. This is said where the author states that, “Takedown any embarrassing photos of your family in the campo, especially the one with the half-naked kids dragging a goat on a rope leash. Hide the pictures of yourself with an afro” (Diaz 235). This reveals that he took down pictures of his family and himself with an afro which suggests that he was afraid and insecure of his date judging his family and culture. It also shows insecurity when he has to wait for the mother and a brother to live so as he can bring his date. It states in the book “wait for your brother and mother to live the apartment” (Diaz 235). He does not want to introduce his mother and brother to his date, may be because he thinks that they are going to embarrass him or maybe he is just not comfortable with that. Moreover, in this book, the author portrays the author as a person who is afraid. This is noted whereby the author states that “put the government cheese back in its place before your mother kills you” (Diaz 237). This statement shows that the character that the author states is afraid of the mother that’s why he has to return the government cheese where it was before. “Leave yourself a reminder to get it out before morning or your moms will kick your ass.” What the writer wants the reader to understand is that the character displayed in the book is not only embarrassed of his current living standards but also he afraid of the mother and that is why he should set the reminder to remind him to put back the cheese. Diaz creates a character whose aim is to impress both the girl’s parents and the girl. He states; “make sure the bathroom is presentable. Put the basket with all crapped on toilet paper under the sink. Spray the bucket with Lysol, and then close the cabinet” (Diaz 235). It surely is clear that the character described on the book wants to impress the girl he wants to bring to his house. “The directions were in your best handwriting, so her parents will not think you are an idiot (Diaz 235).” In this case the character wants to impress the parents of the girl so as not to look like an idiot. “She will say she needs easier directions to get out and even though she has the best directions in her laps give her new ones. Make her happy” (Diaz 235). It indicates that the stereotype wants the girls parent to be happy thus impressing her by giving her the best of direction he can. The character is described as an immoral person, a racist and a disrespectful person towards women. “If she is a white girl you know you will at least get a hand job.” This implies that the motives of the character are to get sexual favors at the end of the day and also it implies that the character has no respect for women and is racist. The statement “the white are the ones are the ones you want the most, aren’t they, but usually the out-of-towners are black, black girls who grew up with ballet and girl scouts, who have three cars in their drive ways” show that the stereotype is racist and usually will choose the white girl over the black one. This is to show the reader that the character described in the book is racist. “Run your hand through your hair like the white boys do even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.” (Diaz 236). This statement shows that the character discussed in the book is not actually proud to African and he wants to imitate the white boys. In conclusion, the writer outlines the story well by making the main character have such confidence and self-importance that makes the reader to believe his theories, but after some analysis we notice that the central theme described the idea of stereotypes. Using implications, symbolism and the atmosphere of the story to show how being insecure about one self-identity, and racial backgrounds are reflected in one’s superficial look and stereotyping them based on their racial background. The story shows how everyone stereotypes in some way, or another and how it is widely accepted as truth even if it is morally wrong. Works Cited Diaz, Junot. “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie.” Writing As Revision. Ed. Beth Alvarado and Barbara Cully. Fourth Edition. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. 235- 237. Print. "Stereotype." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotype Read More