"The Pura Principle" by Junot Díaz
My first impression of this short story: the author is very straight-forward with their language(s). That was a bit of a throw-off since I wasn't really expecting that. Anyways, as I was reading I thought maybe this would end up being one of those life changing stories with a gleeful ending and such. A sibling in tragedy with a pot-head brother and a mother gone church-crazy. So I kept on reading, waiting for the story to take a turn for the miracle to happen and got nothing. I really thought this 'miracle' would happen when the character Tammy Franco was introduced but that didn't go anywhere.
Okay, so maybe I didn't really get the point of this story. What exactly was the author trying to get at? Was it maybe that illness doesn't change a person? Or that women can be conniving* witches? Or was he trying to portray a mother's blinded love? Did I miss a part in the story here?? Alright, I have too many questions. Any thoughts?
*I don't think Pura Adames was really a conniving type of character but I couldn't think of the 'right' word.
Eranell,
ReplyDeleteYour post sounds so similar to mine! From the language that hits you right at the beginning to the no miracle-ending I feel a little confused, also. The two main points I got out of the story are eluded to by your questions. First, I saw the story as a new look on illness, it does not change who you are inside. Rafa never changed despite his illness. Also, the love and support from his mother never faltered. She had already lost her husband and refused to lose her son even when he was doing everything to drive her away. Those are the two main points I got out of the story, but who knows maybe we were both just lost.
It sounds like the story is really confusing. After reading our group's blog posts about "The Pura Principle," I had to actually pull up the story and read the first page of it since I didn't read this one. I was rather surprised about the straight-forward tone and the choice of words, but I felt like it helped the audience connect to what the narrator's emotions were like at the time.
ReplyDeleteI honestly had the same feeling going into the story. It started out abrupt and depressing from the beginning and one would expect a life lesson or a happy ending to follow but it was quite the opposite. I felt as if they ended the story in the same abrupt fashion, when they talked about how Rafa ended up getting his revenge.
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