Nathan's Short Story Thoughts

So far in Drown, we've seen two stories that are structured to be divided into 6 parts: "Ysrael" and "Aguantando". When I noticed this, I found myself wondering if there was any special significance to dividing up the stories in this way. Why these stories specifically? They don't seem to be any longer than the other stories. And why in both of them are they in exactly 6 parts? What is significant about 6? Is it just a coincidence? These stories were written as separate short stories and then put into this collection, so what makes Diaz choose to put this structure in his stories? What I first noticed about "Ysrael" and "Aguantando" is that they are both narrated from the perspective of Yunior. Perhaps Yunior's stories are all written in 6 parts? But "Fiesta, 1980" is also from Yunior's perspective, and it doesn't follow that same structure, so it can't just be a style unique to any story narrated by Yunior. Look...

So far, in Self Help , 3 out of the 4 stories have been written in 2nd person. As the title suggests, these 2nd person stories have been written out as sort of instructions. In 2 of the stories we read, "How to be an Other Woman" and "A Kid's Guide to Divorce", these instructions have been very specific, clearly telling a story through these instructions. Every detail is clear in both of these stories, and it gives the effect of being in the story rather than reading them as instructions. However, in the story "How", I noticed a few differences. For the most part, it is the same sort of 2nd person style, with very detailed, exact instructions on what will happen and what you should do in response. The first time I was reading, however, I noticed a few places where Moore breaks this. Rather than specifying an exact detail that needs to be true, she gives multiple options for some details. This created the effect of those details not really seeming to m...