Blog Post 27: Yunior Junot

Chapter 4 is told from the perspective of Yunior Juno, an arrogant player who goes to school with Oscar and rooms with him in order to get in good graces with Lola. For most of this section, I personally hated Yunior. Everything he did was for himself. He may have roomed with Oscar in order to show his care for Lola, but really he had no other option because he "must've pulled the lowest number on the lottery so it was that or living on the streets or at home" (170). His care for Lola isn't even genuine because even while pursuing he was still getting lots of "pussy" and cheating on several girls at once on a consistent basis. Some would say he obnoxious fuckboy attitude is due to the gender roles imposed on him by a typical Dominican upbringing, but in my opinion there is no excuse for his complete lack of morals and objectification of women. His most compassionate act-- the Oscar Redemption Project-- is even with selfish intention at its roots. He only did it because he was bored, and when Oscar quit and then put himself on his own plan for Jenny later on, he was not happy for him, which shows he did not have Oscar's best interest at heart. Yunior is a self-serving arrogant player who only cares about getting laid and keeping up his cool reputation.

Although an unlikable character, I still found myself as a reader rooting for him to get with Lola. I did not want for her to simply be a part of his collection of hoes, but rather a woman who could open his eyes and change the way he treated women and love. Towards the end of the chapter Yunior starts to have a change of heart. He even tries to take what he's learned from Oscar in being more of a romantic person rather than chasing after sex. When asking out Lola he says he "made like an Oscar and said, Have dinner with me, Lola, I promise, I won't try to take your panties off" (198). Later on he even moves back in with Oscar even though he had the option to stay in his single in one of the best buildings on campus. I still don't think he can change entirely, but there is a light of hope.

It is interesting to hear about Oscar from Yunior's perspective because Yunior is another Dominican male of the same generation. He and Oscar are almost polar opposites-- Yunior is the perfect Dominican male while Oscar can never measure up to the standard ideal Dominican male. Yunior is suave, arrogant, and good with the ladies, while Oscar is a nerdy, unpopular, freak who can't talk to a girl to save his life. These contrasting personalities emphasize their differences but also show that they each can learn from the other.