Tejada 1
Vivian Tejada
LCS 121
Professor Day
9 December 2014
How to date a brown girl (black girl, white girl, or halfie)
Identity is how one chooses to present, or not present, his or herself to the world. In an
identity can be found experiences, influences, beliefs, values, characteristics and self-expression.
It is fair to say that identity is both a personal choice and a complex theme, subject to
misrepresentation and misunderstanding. This is the reality in a world that is largely populated,
increasingly connected and not always that well educated on the topics of diversity and
inclusion. In his short story, Diaz serves as a cultural representative of a particular population
enduring this ordeal: Dominicans belonging to the United States, specifically, second generation
Dominicans living in urban areas. In How to date a brown girl, Diaz intends to accurately
represent the Dominican American experience through hypothetical portrayals of intercultural
interactions as well as unapologetically preserve Latino cultural authenticity through the
integration of Spanish language principles and elimination of English language norms.
Having been born in the Dominican Republic but educated in the United States Diaz has
lived a life shared by many Dominican Americans. Both first generation Dominican immigrants
and second generation Dominican-Americans live their lives slightly different than most of the
United States population. Often times there is a negative connotation associated with the fact that
there is a difference. Typically there is some resentment coming from Dominicans toward their
white counterparts for holding a higher socio economic status than they (Bautista). These
negative feelings stem from a gap of understanding between White and Dominican Americans
Tejada 2
that is similar to the gap between White Americans and Black Americans. In How to date a
brown girl, Diaz is attempting to bridge that gap.
The three ethnicities represented in this short story are whites, blacks and Hispanics,
more specifically, Dominicans. The majority of the United States is white, accounting for those
of European decent, naturally putting those of South American (and/or Caribbean descent) as
well as those of African descent at a disadvantage due to lack of representation. Regardless, there
is this idea of freedom and opportunity categorized as the American Dream common among
Latinos, motivating their immigration to the United States. Upon moving to the United States,
however, the reality of the American Dream for those of a lower socio economic background
begins to settle in and life in the states seems to be only slightly better than life in the country
(Dalleo). For a lower class Dominican in the United States the barrios are substituted for the
inner-city, the Haitian population is substituted for the blacks and poor governance is substituted
for white privilege.
When taking a closer look at Diaz’s choice of scenarios, word choice, and sentence
structure it is clear that Diaz is writing about a comparison between life in the Dominican
Republic and life in Dominican America. Diaz references our homeland twice, using actual
events versus hypothetical scenarios in order to establish the validity of Yunior’s self-conscious
thoughts and feelings in his interactions with the girls from different races. Diaz provides us with
these examples to give some reasoning as to why Yunior may be ashamed of his Dominican
identity and the part North American culture plays in bringing about this shame. Hiding family
pictures of his cousins in the campo and of his afro are signs of identity denial. This is the part
American Yunior does not want to be known for but Dominican Yunior is.
Tejada 3
Following these instructions Diaz makes a note of making sure the bathroom looks
“presentable.” Here, Diaz is insinuating that the campo and the afro Yunior belongs to is not a
desirable appearance. It is an instance of separation from Dominican culture but also AfroDominican identity. The element of the afro is referenced again when Yunior might attempt to
run his hands through his hair. Yunior’s afro represents his Afro-Dominican identity, an identity
he wishes to stray from as both an American and a Dominican (Castro). This action takes place
hypothetically, only if his date turns out to be white. If his date turns out to be black or a halfie
no specific instructions are given about how he should go about his physical appearance. It is
assumed that no action is needed to disguise Yunior’s African roots among the brown or the
halfie because chances are they have men in their lives with similar hair texture (Castro). Just
like there is an assumption that if the girl he is on a date with is from the Terrace, there is no
need to go through an substantial amount of effort to hide the government cheese because
chances are she has the same cheese in her refrigerator at home. There is a mutual understanding
among them due to their ethnic backgrounds.
There is a comfort ability and an understanding present between Yunior and the brown
girl which is absent between Yunior and the white girl. This misunderstanding culminates at the
end of the story when the halfie and Yunior are left in an awkward stance. The halfie is
displeased with the type of boys she attracts and upset with her hair texture. She doesn’t like the
fact that Yunior and the “black boys” are the only ones who ask her out. She doesn’t like it when
people touch her hair. When she leaves he is told to not answer the phone and essentially give up
on trying to accommodate to what he thinks his date desires because it seems she desires the
same thing as him, a whiter version of himself (Dalleo). He has failed at communicating himself
to his date or at least failed to become white enough for her.
Tejada 4
Despite this lack of understanding there is a preference for a white girl present in the
story displayed through Yunior’s attraction to white features. Diaz expresses this preference
when he says, “Tell her that you love her hair, her skin, her lips, because in truth, you love them
more than you love your own.” The white girl is preferred and praised even with the description
of a culturally ignorant, disrespectful and slutty girl. This behavior is exhibited through her
mistakenly referring to him as a “Spanish guy” as well as her sticking gum to the plastic sofa
before giving it up to Yunior. In contrast, the local girl is described as more conservative and
harder to get. She is described as being concerned with the after effects of being sexually active
with a boy in her neighborhood. She is more cautious about her actions and guards her body
more than does the white girl. Diaz is attempting to pay tribute to the traditional ideals and
values Latin American and/or African American women possess (Bautista). These ideals go
against the American stereotypes of hyper sexuality black and brown girls sometimes face.
Diaz is inching at the tension and miscommunication present between DominicanAmericans and White Americans as well as the distain present between Dominicans and those of
African descent. Although African descent constitutes half of Dominican identity, it is pretty
common to find hostility between Dominicans and Haitians. They share an island yet live
segregated lives with minimal interaction. Dominicans tend to side more with their European
ancestry while Haitians tend to side with their African ancestry. Dominican politicians refer to
the Dominican Republic as a “white” nation disregarding the fact that the majority of the
population is mulatto with a good portion of this population being dark skinned. Ironically,
Yunior seems to reflect traditional Dominican values when favoring white characteristics on his
date versus Afro-Latino features (Bautista). Diaz points out a controversial point when
describing intercultural interactions through this short story. He is insinuating that associating
Tejada 5
oneself with “white” is preferable and often times a “sign of success” by both Dominican and
American standards (Bautista). Diaz is highlighting the desire for “white” despite the
misunderstandings often associated with Dominican-American and White-American interaction.
What is unfamiliar is sought after within Dominican American culture.
In addition to questioning the transparency and acceptance exhibited by Dominican
Americans. Diaz incorporates into his writing style the transparency he demands of his people.
He includes Spanish words without italics or asides, he simply lets them be. This is seen when he
uses the word campo to describe his home, the word malcriado to describe his behavior and the
phrase “lo hice, loco!” to explain his excitement for getting some action. He also constructs his
sentences in a way that sound more natural in Spanish than in English. Phrases such as “a whole
crowd” and “now that the alcohol is in them” make more literary sense in Spanish. Translated
into Spanish a “whole crowd” means “un public entero.” This word choice emphasizes the
completeness of a large crowd as opposed to simply saying a big crowd. Translated into Spanish
the phrase “now that the alcohol is in them” literary means “ahorra que el alcohol esta dentro de
ellos.” This is the appropriate sentence structure for the phrase in Spanish.
Diaz chooses to use Spanish sentence structure as opposed to English sentence structure
to avoid any aspect of literature being lost in translation (Castro). Rather than conform to English
language norms, Diaz stays as true as possible to aspects of the Spanish language. Diaz states of
his writing style, “By keeping Spanish normative in a predominantly English text, I want to
remind readers of the fluidity of languages, the mutability of languages” (Bautista). There is a
middle ground Diaz is attempting to reach with his writing that doesn’t currently exist in
American literature. In his writing Diaz refuses to, “sacrifice historical fidelity to social fluency,”
as does Yunior in his interactions with his dates through his denial of cultural background and
Tejada 6
dissatisfaction of his natural features (Castro). In addition to language norms specific to Spanish,
Diaz incorporates elements of inner-city slang into his writing to further describe the Dominican
American experience. He uses words and phrases such as “moms,” “ain’t,” “just chill,”
“homegirl” and “don’t sweat it.” These terms pertain to the urban lifestyle of the inner-city. Diaz
chooses to include them with no explanations as if they were grammatically correct.
Diaz is making a point to authentically represent the Latino linguistic experience the
inner-city United States provides. Diaz is said to account for, “a real inner-city experience hard
to find in short stories” (Bautista). Diaz is intentionally pointing out that flexibility within
vocabulary and sentence structure is needed in order to fully encompass cultural experiences
(Bautista). There is an unintentional assimilation that takes place when translating cultural words
and phrases onto paper to be expressed to someone of a different background. The need for this
audience to understand becomes greater than the need to accurately represent cultural
experiences. Diaz makes a conscious decision to not give into this assimilation.
The Dominican-American is pressured into compromising his/her identity by being an
American just as much as he/she is pressured into preserving his/her identity by being
Dominican. It is a dilemma specific to the Dominican-American experience. Typically,
Dominican Americans do not live in high end conditions, amongst the white population as they
aspire to be. Dominicans are bunched up with Blacks in the inner-city. It is a reality they are
ashamed of and choose not to identify themselves with because it relates too closely to life back
in the campo. There’s something unattractive about the struggle they share with African
Americans that stems from a disappointment of the way things should be in the United States.
Diaz is attempting to point out the ignorance and resistance of the Dominican American
population present in their interactions with White and Black Americans. It is an ignorance
Tejada 7
towards their value as a people and a resistance towards their African roots which leads them to
seek white validation and black separation. Dominican Americans are stuck in between who they
are and who they want to be. Through his writing Diaz is attempting to remind them of who they
are meant to be and what they could be if they let go of their insecurities and embrace their
cultural reality with transparency and understanding. Dominican Americans are of European
descent, African descent and North American influence. They are an integration of cultures and
experiences through which they express a complex and intriguing identity they themselves
considerably undervalue. Diaz is proudly and authentically representing the DominicanAmerican identity through his writing, urging Dominicans as well as all Latinos to embrace the
opportunities offered to them through their American residency but not at the cost of abandoning
the ethnic roots to which they ultimately belong.
Tejada 8
Annotated Bibliography
Bautista, Daniel. "In and Out of the Mainstream: Dominican-American Identity in Junot Díaz's
How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie." Romance Notes 49.1 (2009): 81-89.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Bautista analyzes Diaz's portrayal of Dominican-American identity and interprets the
various reactions to Diaz's dual incorporation of cultural identity and American
assimilation.
Castro, Anne M. "Caribbean Collusion: Junot Diaz, Edwidge Danticat and the New Yorker
Fiction Podcast." Afro-Hispanic Review Fall 2013 32.2 (2013): 11-18. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Castro emphasizes the significance of linguistics in Diaz's writing as well as the effect
Spanglish has on "How to Date."
Dalleo, Raphael, and Elena Machado Saez. "Movin' on up and Out: Lowercase Latino/a Realism
in the Works of Junot Diaz and Angie Cruz." Gale Cengage Learning. Literature Resource
Center, 2007. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.
Dalleo and Saez provide a comparison between writers Junot Diaz and Angie Cruz where
they analyze and attempt to understand the explanations of inner city life in their writing.
Diá z, Junot. "How to Date a Brown Girl (black girl, white girl, or Halfie)."Drown. New York:
Riverhead, 1996. N. pag. Print.
Diaz writes a dating manual through the eyes of a young Dominican American male with
the intention of representing the Dominican American experience transparently.