A common theme that is present within Drown is change. The narrator begins the story talking about how things used to be with his friend Beto, "Days were spent in the mall or out in the parking lot playing stickball, but our nights were what we waited for (Diaz 92)." The narrator was used to spending days with his best friend who was two years older than him, but when it came time for Beto to go off to college the narrator wasn't sure how to deal with that and what was happening between the two of them. The narrator also isn't sure how he should change his life. He's not sure what choice he should make whether it is going into the army, staying on his path that he is on now, or going to college like Beto. I can relate to the feeling of change that the narrator is experiencing. The future can bring a lot of change and that can create a lot of stress. A lot of people experience the fear of change due to future things. There's always and internal debate of where to go to college, if college is the right path, or so many other options that can be considered. It's also hard to go from being in a place where you know everyone to a place where you know no one.
The quote that was stated above is important to this text because even beyond that quote the narrator in reminiscing almost the whole time. Although it's not directly stated, he is realizing that things aren't the same nor will they ever be. It seems that Beto has outgrown their old ways of selling drugs and committing crimes. He has moved on to being a good student at college and has gotten out of the city where he grew up and I think that's what changed Beto. The narrator doesn't really know if he wants to leave his city, but Beto is a good example that if someone can leave, the path they take will be better than one that will be taken by staying in that city. Beto said, "I don't know how you can do it, he said to me. I would just find me a job anywhere and just go (Diaz 91)." For the narrator, though, I don't think he can really just up and go like Beto. He has to worry about his mother. He doesn't have a father around so he feels like he needs to the man of the house and make the money for his mother. The easiest thing for the narrator to do to get money is sell drugs and steal things because that's what he grew up doing. As much as the narrator doesn't want change, I think the change he fears most is leaving his mother alone to change himself. At the end of the story where she tells the narrator to check the windows makes it seem like the narrator himself isn't the only one committing crime in that neighborhood, and to leave his mother alone with that kind of activities going on has got to be scary. I think this does connect to real life situations, there are plenty of kids/young adults who grow up in more poverty stricken areas without a father and they feel it is there job to care of their mother and it plays out just like this story. They could go to college to get themselves out of that situation and better themselves, but when it comes down to making that change they feel obligated to stay home to take care of their family by making money anyway they can and protecting them as well.
Díaz, Junot. Drown. London: Faber and Faber, 2008. Print.
You raise an important point about the theme of change in the story, and how the narrator is stuck in some ways, especially when we compare him to Beto. Do you think he would make different choices if he didn't have to care for his mother? If he could be open with Beto about his conflicted feelings?
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