Junot Diaz's How To Date A Brown Girl, White Girl

Race relations in America is a very sensitive subject, and Battle Royal by Ralph Ellison captures several of the societal conflicts it presents. The central idea of focus is about the generational conflict about race relations between blacks and blacks, as well as blacks and whites. The main character provides reasoning for the internal struggle in his life, as he reflects on how the final words of his dyeing grandfather and the Battle Royal affected him`.

In "Never Marry a Mexican", the opening line that also stands as the title of the work, is a quote from the narrator’s mother which she heard growing up. While it is originally meant as a warning for her daughter to not marry and end up in the same situation as her, it becomes an ironic foreshadowing for the narrator as she enters adulthood. Throughout the short story, Sandra Cisneros continues to use the presence of traditions in Clemencia’s family history, her concept of love as witnessed through her mother’s affair, and her exposure to certain situations to highlight the influence of things that an individual face in youth on their future and ability to deal with and view themselves in society.

I will be analyzing the essay “How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)" by Junot Diaz. In this essay, it is how to manual of what to do versus what not to do on a date with a girl based on ethnicity. I believe that this is all from the author's past experiences as it goes into extreme detail, but also how he said "Your brother once heard that one and said, Man, that sounds like a whole lot of Uncle Tomming to me. Don't repeat this" as a warning. Diaz discusses how each girl would react to the choices he makes.

   The narrator in "Battle Royal," by Ralph Ellison, is confused and disillusioned. He is black man trapped in a world of cruelty and social inequality with nobody to guide him. He is being ripped apart in two directions by the advice of his grandfather and by the wishes of the white society which he longs to please. While attempting to satisfy their wishes, he forgets what is most important- his own dignity.

“Battle Royal” provides a realistic portrait of the difficulty of being a black person in a

The short story “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, and Halfie” by Junot Diaz is the main character, Yunior’s, guide to dating girls of different races and the ways to act in order to get what you want from them. The only thing Yunior seems to want for these girls is sexual acts. This short story argues that a person’s heritage, economic class, and race affect how a person identifies themselves, and how their identity affects how they act towards other people. The pressures a person may feel from society also has an effect on how a person treats themselves and others. The pressure and expectations from society are also what makes Yunior think he needs to have sex with these girls. There are many different occasions of the main

The story “Battle Royal”, by Ralph Ellison is about a young black man who has to overcome racial inequalities. The story opens with his grandfather dying words and leaving the family with words that stick with the main character for life. The main character, whose name in not mentioned, is very intelligent and because of this the prominent white businessmen ask him to give a speech at a hotel. Upon his arrival, the white men put him through many humiliating acts for their enjoyment. There is a boxing match and also an electric carpet, but the boy preservers through them all. At the end he is finally given a chance to deliver his speech. Although the men are being inattentive, the superintendent rewards the boy

In the short story “How to date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” Junot Diaz

This story is written in the nineteen eighties, an era filled with racial and sexual evolution. By the mid- '80s, Jim Crow laws had been dead for two decades -- a full generation. Mid- '80s culture had also been redefined by social movements such as civil rights and feminism. The eighties was an era of female empowerment and African American equality. Although Jim Crow laws, which hindered racial equality, have been null for two decades, romantic relationships between multiple ethnicities is still not widely accepted. The story begins describing the weather “It was the third day of an August heat wave” (71). It

Ellison once said, “Our social mobility was strictly, and violently, limited” (German 2). The black society is portrayed in a special way in “Battle Royal.” The boxing ring of the Battle symbolizes the confinement of blacks in their society (German 2). The whites are always superior, and the blacks are constantly held back and left fighting. “The story’s title, ‘Battle Royal,’ suggests that the incidents described in the narrative are just one battle in the ongoing racial war” (Brent 2). There is constant controversy between whites and blacks, so far as it is described as a war. In the grandfather’s speech, he describes it as a war, and he states that he wants the narrator to “keep up the good fight.” He then explains how the narrator should do so; he orders him “Live with your head in the lion’s

Implying that the battle, resonates to that of the racial conflict and issues of social standing; which help to solidify the meaning of Ellison’s Marxist composition. To complicate the point, the title of the book is “Battle Royal”, alluding to the great conflict that the narrator was lured into; while juxtaposing the aliments of the Black community endless struggle towards finding recognition and equity in society. Therefore; asserting the claim that the battle, in the passage contextualize to the most core message of the novel proving the conflicting aspect shown by the story and how these sentiments were just specific, to the narrator but, to millions of African-Americans around the country; more in depth, this epic battle aligns with his (the narrator) grandfather’s message foreshadowed earlier in the passage; proclaiming the need for such hostilities, to foster the fight for social recognition of equality to that of the “fairer race” (Ellison pg. 294). The conflict also provokes the pursuit for freedom of future black generation towards recognition and other factors of social equity, which adds to the entity of the story. this addition exhibited when the narrator overcomes his battles later in the book when he’s in his dark apartment and he realizes he’s been blind in the entirety of his life, he

“Big Black Good Man” was written by Richard Wright in 1957, and “Battle Royal” was written by Ralph Ellison in 1952 before the Civil War. Both of them were written in a period when the racism, prejudice and discrimination were the most common phenomenon in the society. They have many similarities and differences. Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison both embedded the concept of “judging a man by its color” in their stories and reflected the darkest and inhumane side of the white society. However, they have shaped different character's characteristics and ended in different way, which implied different meanings.

In “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz, the story highlights common stereotypes that the narrator picks out about girls that he is attempting to date. Stereotypes are often the first impression before the first impression, and can influence a man’s decision on how he is going to treat a girl based on her race and ethnicity. Diaz suggests that

“Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison talks about a young, ginger-colored man, who feels contradicted on how he should act in a society where people of color are still oppressed, and at the same time where the word “equality” is a sensitive expression. The protagonist, who is remained nameless and “invisible” throughout the narrative, is the narrator of the whole story and he describes that, “He was an odd old guy, my grandfather, and I am told I take after him” (Ellison 1142). This points out that our young protagonist might have been a modest and timid person, because his grandfather “had been the meekest of men” (1142). Just before reaching his last breathe, his grandfather confesses about being a traitor and “a spy in the enemy’s country” (1142). To the protagonist, “It was as though he had not died at all, his words caused so much anxiety” (1143). His

Within the past month we have read stories such as, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”, “A&P”, and “Greasy Lake”. Of all these stories my main focus will be primarily on “How to date a…”. In each of the discussion in class I was always focused on the relation or understanding other had against the stories, as many of the stories were made in earlier time periods, around 60s-70s, which leads to many feeling conflicted against the story as society has changed much since then, even focusing on sub questions such as race and social standing have indeed changed. I aim to state the difference of the time period of the stories, which roughly fall around the same time, to our modern understanding. Starting from here it can be inferred that an understanding of the past can indeed change your outlook on these stories.