Letter To Diaz

Dear Junot Diaz:

I am exhilarated by your short story, “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie,” It shows how every racial group judge other racial groups, rather, a handful of every racial group judge other racial groups. It also makes me wonder about whether people perceive us in the way we think we are being perceived by different people or it just a figment of our imagination.

One line that stands out for me is, “Clear the government cheese from the refrigerator. If the girl’s from the Terrace, stack the boxes in the crisper. If she’s from the Park or Society Hill, then hide the cheese in the cabinet above the oven, where she’ll never see it.” I think this line -provoking because it makes me think about us, , should pretend in a certain way based on every group we are trying to fit into it or we should just be ourselves. It also makes me wonder is the problem that some people are poor and others are not or the differences between people make it hard for some people to accept each other.

Another line that stands out for me is, “Don’t panic. Say, Hey, no problem. Run a hand through your hair like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa. ” People don’t accept each other because they don’t feel comfortable to be around something different, but everyone is naturally different. It makes me think that some people try to suppress differences in group because they think they are entitled to do that since they are from the majority group.

Your story helps me to understand an Everyday Use that I once read. Everyday Use shows how Maggie was not satisfying about life and seeing her reality in different ways. This makes me conclude that Maggie was uneducated and that decreases dramatically her chance to fit into a larger community unlike her sister, Dee, who was able to do so because she is highly educated. That’s why Dee was seeing that her sister destroy their heritage since she is not aware of how the majority of people perceive them, unlike Dee. Maybe Dee was trying to preserve in heritage in a way that she opposes what the majority groups are saying about them.

DMU Timestamp: January 21, 2020 02:52