The struggle for overcoming the internalized norms of masculinity: This Is How You Lose Her

Abstract

An old Chinese proverb says, “Fish is the last to discover water.” That is, water is the whole body of the world in which the fish lives. As such, the fish does not reflect on the water, does not need to “discover” it, just because the fish is not cognizant of anything else. There is, moreover, no other reality for the fish until it comes out of the water, its common environment. If we adapt this proverb to human society with its institutions and culture and the people living in it, it is possible to assume that it can be difficult to be aware of something when one is so much submerged in it. Since the present paper revolves around men as power holders and the privileged side of the heterosexual gender dichotomy, it can be argued that men do not need to see that gender is constructed in society and that the dominant constructs of gender are fabricated concepts of behaviour, which are controlled by the prevalent ideas in society. This study depicts masculinity as a fluid social construct in Junot Díaz’s This Is How You Lose Her (2012) through an investigation of the protagonist Yunior’s struggle to overcome his internalized cultural trainings of gender identity in a strange land where he is required to reveal, question, and reconstruct his gender identity. Hence, the notion of hypermasculinity, as an artificial construct, is analysed first in terms of his relationships with other Dominican men as potential role models in shaping his perception of masculinity and with women with regard to the multifaceted status of women within Dominican culture. The study, moreover, extends its purview to encompass the repercussions of the immigration experience, dissecting its impact on the intricate tapestry of gender politics that reverberates through the lives of both men and women.