Immigrants with an imperfect family, the characters of Drown struggle to balance the challenges of everyday life with the added struggle of assimilating into American culture while still holding onto their unique Dominican background. Yunior specifically struggles with society in different ways. His struggles, ranging from economic struggles to heartbreak to masculinity, shape the collection of stories as a whole. Yunior’s series of flawed relationships with other characters in the novel and his uncertainty with life all showcase the conflict that he faces with society and these conflicts follow him throughout the course of the novel. The setting shifts from the Dominican Republic to the United States by the second chapter. In the second…show more content… Without his father present in his life anymore, he attempts to balance trying to fulfill his own desires with trying to fulfill the desires of his mother. His mother’s yearning of a husband figure causes her to be preoccupied on wanted a man in her life, so Yunior attempts to fill this position and make her realize that she does not need him as a husband in her life. For example, Yunior pays the bills that she is unable to pay, like the cable and phone bills. This need to provide for his mother and want to be the male figure in her life relate to the ever present theme of masculinity in the novel; he needs to prove his manhood to himself by being able to support himself and others. But on top of this need to please his mother, Yunior constantly struggles to find steady sources of income, establish relationships, and find direction in his life. The story Drown also highlights Yunior’s stagnancy. As he watches his friend Beto attempt to better himself by going off to college and avoids a recruiter for the armed services, Yunior makes it clear that he has no intention of leaving his current situation and wishes to stay exactly where he is. Yunior’s disinterest of bettering himself by going to college or leaving his town may be due to a fear of the unknown, and his struggle to find his fit in society and obtain the sense of belonging that he searches for throughout the