Drown

Drown was not by favorite read so far this semester. The short stories connected together were a little hard to keep up with and made me a little uncomfortable on more than one occasion. I can appreciate the culture differences, I can appreciate the unique fragmented story approach, but I just couldn’t put myself into any of the stories which made it difficult for me to fully submerge myself into this novel. The issue of identity within this novel doesn’t seem to be as pronounced as it was in Baldwin’s Another Country mostly because the characters in Drown all seem to be from approximately the same cultural and socio-economical backgrounds. They’re all poor, latin/Dominican or related minority group, and most all of them touch on the subject of drug use as being part of everyday life. Another common tie between all of the stories is the lack of a strong father figure causing strain on the family unit as a whole. Either the father has entirely abandoned the family, is hiding an affair, or is hinted at being absent throughout the narrator’s life.
Maybe the real aspect of identity that I was missing was the identity of the immigrant after leaving their home country. There was mention earlier in the novel about days gone by when it was a fact of pride to be Dominican, or to be of Latin decent, but in the modern times, the times that the narrator is telling his story, there is an urgency to become fluent in English, to adopt American customs, and leave for the states and the opportunities available there as soon as possible. The modern world encourages the loss of the individual identity in favor of the group identity. There is a distinct lack of pride for the individual heritage in our society. It is no longer as important that we celebrate our roots as it once was. Part of this is because many of us can’t trace back a distinct heritage other than maybe getting as close to the continent that our ancestors came from-Europe (Midwest anyway). We don’t spend a lot of time encouraging the study and celebration of our past because we have been made to worship the identity of our nation as a culture of its own.