The effects and significance of unequal power between men and women appearing in literature has been a popular topic in literary criticism. While a universal way of reading texts from a genre approach still remains to be defined. Kimmel, Hearn, and Connell (2005) argued that all literary texts involving characters show some degree of authorial support for masculinity or femininity. This essay adopts the definitions of masculinity and fragmented masculinity proposed by Gardiner (2005), Hofestede (1998) and Whitehead (2002); and argues that Drown written by Junot Diaz depicts the idea of ​​fragmented masculinity. This article first defines fragmented masculinity. Then, the meaning of the protagonists' absent father figures; and the protagonists' objection to feminine behavior, as exemplified by Ysrael, Aguantando, No Face and Edison, New Jersey, will be presented. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The concept of fragmented masculinity was first coined by Whitehead, which refers to a man's misinterpretations and inability to achieve the totality of masculinity (Whitehead, 2002). Masculinity in a literary context refers to the description and application of masculine roles and identities confined within the text (Gardiner, 2005; Hofestede, 1998). This emphasizes the possession of qualities or characteristics considered typical or appropriate for a man. According to Gardiner (2005), it is a social construct but not innate. Different men must construct their own masculinity throughout their lives, based on their own culture and the perceptions of others, in order to become part of their own identity. This implies that the concept of masculinity may vary from place to place. When men fail to discover or construct commonly accepted masculinity, it leads to a fragmentation of masculinity. They cannot fully recognize and understand a man's identities and roles. In many situations, they will show great trust in father figures, strong objection to any feminist ideas, and abnormal violent actions to show their masculinity in an abnormal way. But these are only fragments instead of a true masculine whole that only serves as a kind of psychological compensation (Reeser, 2010). The representation of fragmented masculinity in the text can be discussed from two aspects. First, the characters in Drown rely heavily on their father figures to learn about masculinity. In Ysrael, he tells the tragic story of the narrator, later revealed as Yunior; and his older brother, Rafa. Their father and mother were absent in the story which left Yunior and Rafa behind. Without sufficient parental supervision, the two boys bullied Ysrael whose face was mutilated by a pig when he was a baby. He has been wearing a mask for a long time and to find out what is behind it, Rafa plans to take off his mask. Just as Yunior remains unknown to Rafa's plan, a conversation takes place with Ysrael in a kite field. “We didn’t find him,” Rafa said. How stupid are you? Where did you get this? I asked. New York, he said. From my father. No shit! Our father is there too! I screamed” The captioned conversation reveals that the survival of the entire family can depend heavily on fathers. According to Gardiner (2005), men will assume a model as a basis while constructing masculinity; and the presence of a father figure is an important elementfor a complete build. But in the subtitled storyline, their father's abandonment caused the absence of father figures in their lives, leading to fragmented masculinity. This is illustrated by their cruelty towards Israel in a later scene, Aguantando. I can see that the protagonist even has negative opinions towards his father. "When Abuelo was there (and awake), he would tell me about the good old days, when a man could still make a living from his finca, when the United States wasn't something people anticipated, it was the soldier on the photo was a cloud of cigar smoke, traces of which could still be found on the uniforms he had left behind. Masculinity becomes a responsibility of their peers. To realize their desire to be a man, they cannot. 'only rely on a collective view of masculinity because they have nothing to follow Unfortunately, in many cases, this becomes a kind of hyper-masculinity (Marsiglio & Pleck, 2005). a key consequence of lacking a father figure, as they can only be extremely cruel and selfish to maintain their social status and masculinity among their peers This occurs throughout the novel: in Ysrael, men bully Yarael. in Aguantando they show an enormous desire of the protagonists for girls. “I'm going to go crazy – chinga all my girls and then chinga all the others.” Lack of masculinity ultimately leads to overwhelming masculinity. other way than to overexert masculinity on others weaker than them, on girls considered fragile in order to maintain a sort of psychological compensation (Newkirk, 2002). It is a way for them to prove their own existence in the world. On the other hand, it also demonstrates their prolonged oppressions on society through the expression of patriarchal privileges which they have lacked. Riofrio (2003) has argued this as Diaz's way of allowing us to "see Rafa as a substitute for the hegemonizing process of masculinity", even if this ultimately fails and remains misinterpreted and fragmented masculinity. The second argument is based on the strong reluctance of the protagonists towards femininity. In the novel, empathy, as a feminine act, is presented as dangerous and problematic. In Edison, New Jersey, the narrator makes a conscious decision not to empathize with his partner Wayne's desire to commit adultery: "I really want to pile on to it," he tells me. Maybe on one of the Madisons. Dude, I said, looking down at him. Don't you have a wife or something? He is silent. I'd still like to stack it, he said defensively. And what will that do? Why does something have to be done? Twice this year Wayne cheated on his wife and I heard it all, before and after. Wayne can be in a bad mood and this is one of those nights; he slumps into the driver's seat and swerves into traffic, riding other people's bumpers like I told him not to. I don't need a collision or a four-hour silent treatment, so I try to forget that I think his wife is a good person and ask him if Charlene has been giving him any signals. He slows down the truck. Signals you wouldn't believe, he says. The narrator first shows empathy towards Wayne's wife. However, as the story progresses, empathy leads to negative consequences. Ultimately, the narrator sacrifices Wayne's wife for a peaceful day at work, making her the victim of this rejection of empathy. Such victimization of women is closely linked to their association as empathetic and feminine beings. Showing empathy can possibly diminish the existing masculinity of thenarrator that he lacked (Martin and Finn, 2010). Their daily struggles to avoid any possible feminine nature in their lives can also be seen as an important part of constructing their own masculinity, so they tend not to be categorical. From another perspective, masculinity is actually fragile in their minds. In a scene from another No Face story, where Ysrael is harassed by his peers, he says, "We're going to make you a girl," the fat boy says and he can hear the words echoing through the meat of the fat boy's body. . He wants to breathe but his lungs are as tight as pockets. Have you ever been a girl before? I bet not. It's not very fun. The assault on Israel is made even more terrifying by the threat of rape. The action of rape here suggests an implicit meaning that boys who threaten Israel may also be raped, which suggests their weaknesses (Jayasena, 2007). A similar scenario in the opening story, Ysrael, shows a similar sign of the protagonists' reluctance to empathy. “Where did you get that?” I asked, Nueva York, he replied. From my father. No shit! Our father is there too! I shouted, I looked at Rafa who, for a moment, frowned. Why are you wearing that mask anyway? Rafa asked, I'm sick, Ysrael replied. It must be hot. Not for me. Don't you take it off? Not until I'm better, I'm going to have surgery soon. You better watch out for that, Rafa said. These doctors will kill you faster than the Guardia……” This conversation reveals Yunior’s initial understanding of empathy and his willingness to be emphatic. Yunior shows his empathy through his kind words like "It must be hot" and "Aren't you taking it off?" His empathy reaches its peak when he abandons his brother's side to catch up with Ysreal who is ahead of them. “Do you still like wrestling?” I asked. He turned to me and something rippled beneath the mask. How did you know? I heard, I said…… The mask shook, I realized he was smiling, then my brother brought his arm back around and smashed the bottle over his head. It exploded, the thick bottom flew out like crazy glass and I said. Holy shit… Roll him onto his back, my brother said and we did, pushing like crazy, Rafa took off his mask and threw his pins into the grass. His left ear was a pimple and you could see the thick veined patch of his tongue through a hole in his cheek,,,,The damage looked old but I still jumped back and said. Please Rafa, let's go! Rafa crouched down and, using only two of his fingers, turned Ysrael's head from side to side. But exactly at that moment, Rafa breaks his continued silence by crashing the bottle onto the unsuspecting Ysrael. Arguably the most powerful part of the novel (Riofrio, 2003), this scene involves a tragic fact: Ysrael is incapable of maintaining his empathy with his community, but being a cruel man to maintain his masculinity, his social status too. However, they will never be able to achieve masculine wholeness because they will never have a complete understanding of the concept of masculinity, what remains is a fragmented masculinity full of misinterpretations and misunderstandings. In the subtitled analysis, it is argued that Drown by Junot Diaz depicts the idea of ​​fragmented masculinity. . The two aforementioned arguments supported the thesis well. In fact, the notion of genre is common in the writings of Junot Diaz (Jarrett & Delgadillo, 2010). Reading his text can follow the approach suggested in this essay, which will allow us to better understand his writing and himself.ReferencesKeep in mind: this is just a sample.Get now..