Literary Argument, research paper Introduction The concept of “goodness” or “badness” of a person, or morality, is entirely centered on the person’s character and how the society perceives of it. A person’s good character depends on the ethical choices the person makes, and this would entail honesty, loyalty, humility, responsibility, respectfulness, faithfulness, to mention a few. The opposite of such traits would be considered as bad character. In the discussion board we have debated about whether Yunior is a good or bad person. My opinion hasn’t changed since the beginning. I think Yunior is a totally bad person because all the things he did cannot be undone. Imagine someone tends to steal other people's'' valuables. How would you perceive such a person’s character? What effects would having such traits have on the person? The perpetrator would probably get arrested, or even worse. These immoral behaviors and immoral traits such as unfaithfulness, dishonesty, disrespect, and mistreatment are vices having a negative perception on the society. Yunior believes that other guys are worse than him. The people around him including his father, brother, and friends have been a bad influence on his behavior, but by not being as bad as them, he recognizes himself to be automatically good. His failure to love depicts how his damaged childhood affected his value on love. Moreover, his dual personalities have twisted his courage to make the right decisions. Infidelity Lack of faithfulness (also regarded as infidelity), for instance, is unacceptable behavior, and Junot Diaz expresses this theme in detail in his book, This Is How You Lose Her. He does not learn from his mistakes even after being punished several times for his affairs. In the case of Magdalena, Yunior cheats on her with Cassandra. Through the course of the book, not only does Yunior loose Magdalena, he loses all his girlfriends. He lacks the courage to settle down with one woman and always ends up cheating. The girls have genuine feelings for Yunior, but he only uses them as sexual tools for his satisfaction. They have to cooperate to acquire and share information about Yunior’s character (Sula Par.1). With Alma, Yunior talks to himself as the second person. Yunior claimed that their relationship was beautiful and spent time in the story reminiscing the details. He described their love as being opposites attract each other (Misener Par. 3). Even though she loved him and would do anything for him, Yunior still goes ahead and cheats on her with Laxmi, a beautiful freshman. When he is confronted, he opts to lie instead of owning up to his mistakes. To him, the bigger problem was not that he cheated but because Alma had caught him. Lust According to the book "The Seven Deadly Sins," lust is described as the inordinate desire for the pleasures of the flesh. This is demonstrated in Yunior’s character. An example being how he describes Alma, “You, Yunior, have a girlfriend named Alma, who has a long tender horse neck and a big Dominican ass that seems to exist in the fourth dimension beyond jeans” (45). It is quite difficult to believe Yunior had genuine love for any of the women he slept with. His failure to commit to one person substantiates our claim that Yunior yearned for the pleasures of the body more than he wanted to love. He did not have any feelings towards the women he cheated on his girlfriends with, and would even deny the allegations when confronted as in the case of Alma and Laxmi. Even though we would expect Yunior to learn from his mistakes as he grew older, that is not the case as shown in his adult life. He is still the same young Yunior who ruined every relationship he has ever been in. He cheats on his fiancé and eventually gets caught. At this point, Yunior is beginning to realize the impact his decisions have had on his life. Unlike other breakups, the separation from his fiancé causes him to spend several years in depression. The thesis, This Is How You Lose Her becomes evident throughout his relationships. In the end, Yunior ends up alone and miserable. Disrespect Yunior, his mother and brother moved to the United States when he was young. This is the first time he gets to see his father. Life in the US is very hard, and they miss going back to the Dominican Republic. They do not know English and have to watch a lot of television to learn. His father was very abusive and commanding. He instructs Yunior and his brother Rafa not to go outside because he did not think it was the right time. However, Yunior goes ahead and disrespects his father by going out without his permission. He even makes white friends in the process. His mother, who is at the center of all the abuse, still loved and cared for everyone in the family. Yunior’s father would continuously disrespect and cheat on her. Rafa also went ahead and disobeyed her when he was ordered not to marry Pura, a girl that entered the United States illegally. Her motive was to marry him to get citizenship, and both Yunior and his mother advised against it. They knew she only wanted the papers. Rafa did not consider this and went ahead to marry her. The male figures in Yunior’s life shaped the person he would become. His father had no respect for his mother and even though he cheated, his mother never left. Yunior’s upbringing in a dysfunctional family would later affect his view on women. Irresponsible Yunior does not take responsibility for his wrongdoings, and the only explanation he has for his infidelity is that it must be genetic. Why so? When he was young, his father could go out with his girlfriends. And, when he was older, Rafa, would bring women into their room. Even Alma caught him cheating, Yunior opted to lie. Another instance that shows his irresponsibility is after the breakup with his fiancé. He tries to move on by getting with other girls but with no success. One of the girls even ends up pregnant, but Yunior does not take up the responsibility forcing her to leave him after knowing the type of person he was. Self-Absorbed Yunior treated all the women in his life as mere objects. He never took into consideration their feelings or their say in any situation. Flaca, for instance, did not want to become his girlfriend. Yunior, however, continued pursuing her, and after some time, they ended up together. Even after Flaca had fallen for him, Yunior claims “It wasn’t supposed to get serious between us” (81). He tries keeping her at arms-length. Finally, Flaca moves on, and never communicates again (Misener Par. 7). Junot Diaz brings forth this theme to explain how people like Yunior are preoccupied with their feelings and interests, therefore, taking advantage of others for their benefit. Envy According to the book "The Seven Deadly Sins," envy has been explained as the desire to possess something that belongs to someone else. Junot Diaz portrays this trait in Yunior’s character in the second story which revolves around Rafa, his brother, and his girlfriend, Nilda. Nilda would spend a lot of time at their apartment because she disliked her mother. Yunior was very jealous of his brother’s relationship with Nilda. He desired to have her and believed he would treat her better. Yunior even attempted to befriend her in an effort to lure her into loving him and leaving his brother. Rafa and Nilda, however, end up kissing the following day, and she becomes his girlfriend. Greed Greed is considered as one of the seven deadly sins. I cannot agree more that greed is part of our human culture. I think in Junot Diaz’s collection stories, there are many scenes could support this. For Yunior, he continues cheating his girlfriend. After a relationship is over, he will be hunting for the next one. Yunior thinks there is nothing wrong with that. Yunior’s father and brother can perfectly describe greed. I believe that all the human being have greed, is just a matter of how greedy and how good you can control yourself. The biggest difference between human being and other creatures is wisdom. That is also the reason we are standing at the top of the biological chain. Within our wisdom, we should know how to judge things and control our greed. To me, the massage Junot Diaz trying to send out is that human nature is not perfect. There are weaknesses of human nature such as the seven deadly sins. People should know how to keep themselves away from these sins and learned from all the mistakes. Conclusion Yunior, in the end, regrets his decisions. He fears it is too late for him to change. The girls have genuine feelings for Yunior, but he only uses them as sexual tools for his satisfaction. What does this mean to us readers? Was it hard for Yunior to change and commit to one woman? This behavior extends to our nature as human beings. We also wrong one another and promise to change but often do we find ourselves repeating the same mistake over and over. By narrating his mistakes, Yunior hopes that we might learn from him. It is, therefore, vital that we make sound ethical choices to avoid repercussions that come along with making wrong decisions! Works Cited Diaz, Junot. "This Is How You Loose Her." Diaz, Junot. This is how you loose her. LA: Riverhead Books, 2012. 45. Sula, Rei. “This Is How You Lose Her Themes.” GradeSaver, www.gradesaver.com/this-ishow- you-lose-her/study-guide/themes (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. . Misener, Melinda. “Review: This Is How You Lose Her.” The Common, www.thecommononline.org/review-this-is-how-you-lose-her/ (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. . Díaz, Junot. This is how you lose her. Penguin, 2013. Schimmel, Solomon. "The seven deadly sins: Jewish, Christian, and classical reflections on human psychology." (1997).
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