Nobody's Money By Junot Diaz Discussion Questions

Julian fails many times at proving his superiority too his mother. We see this when he attempts to try and make friends with the African-American man on the bus who is reading the paper next to

Her mother is constantly in a state of disapproval, always favoring Connie's sister June who is more mature. Connie is mostly concerned with how pretty she looks, while her mother scoldes her for it "Stop gawking at yourself, who are you? You think you're so pretty?". Her father mostly works and when he came home, he is too tired to talk and only went to bed. Connie's mother made her want "to throw up sometimes" (361). The father of one of connies friends drops her off and some friends at a shopping plaza, so that they could go see a movie and hangout. However, they would often spend their time else where, usually a drive-in restaurant and meet boys. One night, she is invited by a boy named Eddie to have some dinner. Connie accepts and goes out with him leaving her friend behind at the drive-in restraunt. After spending some time eating, Connie looks up and meets the eyes of a man in a gold convertable, the man grin's and says "Gonna get you, baby" (362), Eddie didnt notice anything. The next morning, since it was summer vacation, Connie was back to spending time around the house with nothing to do. Her mother would drag her from her day dreams and give her something to do around the

In “The Dreamer,” by Junot Díaz, the author has an exceedingly unique voice by expressing it as intimate, as though you are potentially close friends. He uses this style to appeal to the reader, managing to make them feel at ease, as if you were sitting across from each other. His short sentences, which depict his mother’s childhood, present as though he is slowly remembered the details himself. Moreover, it gives the impression that he is watching the story in his own head, not just telling it aloud. The story as a whole feels like a gentle reveal of his past, of those who came before him, and he gives the readers a glimpse of what inspires him so profoundly.

Julian English was married to his beautiful wife, Caroline English. They lived in the town Gibbsville and regularly attended the club and parties until Julian throws a drink in Harry’s Reilly face. Harry Reilly was a rich, well-know man that lent Julian money the summer before. Julian believed that because he owed Harry money, that

Society will never exist in perfect harmony even though people constantly yearn for peace. A piece crafted by Flannery O’Connor proved how different beliefs can exist within the world and, furthermore, even under one roof. Throughout the story, Julian’s mother is shown to be a racial bigot whereas Julian strives to be surrounded by those of color. The central part of the story involves the setting of Julian and his mother on a bus going to the Y. Julian possess an arrogant attitude filled with spite which he directs toward his mother who has prejudice actions towards the black race. Julian’s outlook in the story is noted through his negative comments, and O’Connor uses Julian to demonstrate the ironies and motifs she weaves throughout her story.

While Junior was out and about spending his money, Daisy found herself falling out of love with the man she used to love. Daisy soon figured out that Junior was a fool and could only ever depend on his family’s wealth. Daisy had had suspicions about Junior and his loyalty for her.Upon doubting his love, Daisy does something unfathomable. With Junior’s checkbook, Daisy had forged her husband’s signature and made 2 checks out to Tony Spagoni, a private investigator, to spy on Junior.

What is the true price of a penny? To someone having a crummy day and feeling down, finding a penny on the ground heads up can turn their day around. To someone who is extremely poor and struggling, a penny could be enough to buy extra food and keep themselves or their loved ones alive. For Julian’s mother in “Everything that Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor, the simple act of giving a penny to a little boy led to her traumatic death. But was it the innocent gift of a penny or Julian’s mother’s racist tendencies that contributed to her death? Using a character analysis on Julian’s mother, we can assess her character and racist tendencies, determining who is at fault for her death. Although the entire story builds Julian’s mother

After briefly leaving for a bit they find everything of theirs has been stolen from them. They eventually manage to catch up to the thief and the boy begs for the thief's life stating that its too cruel, but the father only tells the thief to give back what he stole and his clothes and shoes. That night the boy begins to cry for the thief. The boy is still very upset about the thief for the next few days. Bu the real problem begins when the man is shot in the leg with an arrow. The father retaliates with a flare gun shot. Tehn runs in to take the bow only to find it gone. They then go to a building to fix the wound. The boy then confesses that he hears all the crying and coughing the father does in secret and that if the father cries the boy should be allowed to cry too, then he asks if the man that shot the arrow is dead and if his leg would get better, he answers no and yes respectively, both most likely lies. They struggle despite all the hardships, they leave their cart and the mans dream start to become good things. He realizes he's going to die in this place that they are now so he tells the boy to keep the peaches and to keep the tarp for

Some of the things that were emotional to her and which led her to take the measure of writing about this play were the way that poor children were being treated in the society as compared to how those from rich families were also treated. This work was thus developed as a result of emotions that Ann was going through due to this discrimination. Application of criminal justice system is depended on the power that individuals have in the society; those that have a voice in the society are treated better than those that do not have say. The work is calling for social change.

“Who killed your parents Jackie? What is going on!”, I yelled as I realized I was so out of the loop. This was all too much for one moment. First the gash on her neck and now I find out her parents are dead. I started to wonder if she was crazy, how could they be dead and she just wanted to run away? Something had to be wrong, this could not be happening.

In many parts of the world, many people suffer from discrimination and hatred of many forms of discrimination just because of their color, race, ethnicity, religion and nationality. In O’Connor’s writing, she mentioned Julian's mother and the large black women were wearing the same hideous green hat. It means the two women are on equal social position although Julian’s mother considers herself superior to black people. Because of the hat, Julian hopes his mom will learn a lesson that she and everybody; especially, the black woman are more alike than different like she thought “if the woman were a monkey that had stolen her hat” (p286). Now, we live in the midst of the modern 21st century, but there are not rare cases of discrimination are founded.

However, it is not until a black woman with a four-year-old son steps on the bus that Julian feels he has the opportune moment to irk his mother -- the black woman is wearing the same hat as she. When Julian’s mother bought the hat, the storeowner told her that she would not find herself “coming and going”-- meaning she would not see anyone else with that particular hat. The irony in all this is that not only was there someone else with the hat, but it was a black woman. O’ Connor not only brings conflict in this but also introduces humor into the story. Julian laughed at the sight of the hats. “He could not believe that fate had thrust upon his mother such a lesson” (443). While on the bus, the black boy caught his mother’s attention. Julian’s mother thought black children were overall cuter than little white children, and so when they got to their stop, Julian got the idea that his mother would insist on giving the little boy a penny. Since the large black woman had gotten off on the same stop as they did, Julian was certain she would attempt to do so. Julian’s mother, who rose from discrimination towards self-awareness and love for all humankind towards the end of the story, moved away from racism all because of the interaction between her and that little boy. Julian warned her not to, and when she did, to our surprise, the black woman swung her purse across his mother’s face. “You got exactly what you

Junot Diaz showcases his writing talents in "The Dreamer," where he creates a unique voice to capture the opressive

The audience can notice this when the mother makes a very prejudice remark on the bus. Julian’s mother sparks up a conversation with another woman and points out “we have the bus to ourselves for a change” (O’Connor 216); meaning, there are only whites on the bus. As for Julian, he frequently attempts to spark a conversation or interact with the opposite race, which is distinguished when the author states “when Julian got on the bus by himself, he made it a point to sit down beside a Negro” (O’Connor 215). Julian would occasionally sit down next to a black individual not because he did not mind to do so, but because he knew it bothered his mother. The mother and son disagreements shown throughout this short story are due to the frequent topic of segregation in this time. However, according to the article “Interracial Friendships and Whites’ Racial Attitudes” which was published in 1986 (years after segregation took place) black friends and acquaintances have almost no effect on whites’ policy orientations toward blacks. According to the information displayed in the article, between two-thirds and three-quarters of whites who have blacks amongst their friends persist in opposing an increase in racial equality. The drastic change of stereotyping over the years goes to show that interracial friendships are not all that negative the way in which the characters in the short story display. The qualities and actions of the characters in the

While Lena is in the city, she is assigned to follow Julian, the son of a politician. A short time later, while Julian is giving a speech, several bombs go off, resulting in a mass panic. Julian is quickly taken into an evacuation tunnel and Lena follows. Once in the tunnel, Lena hears an altercation ahead of her. She goes to investigate and is hit in the head and knocked out by a man. When she awakens, she is in a small, underground cell with Julian who is badly beaten. Lena tends to his wounds as best as she can and then