The American Dream

Striving to achieve the image of the American Dreamof one’s own home, a family and a respectful jobis the overarching theme for this collection of stories. It is the immigrant’s American Dream. Some say that the collection demonstrates the failed dream, but in the end the narrator, Yunior is educated and writing about his experiences, which is a success for Yunior.

Yunior’s father’s dream was to own his own business and have a nice place to live with his family. Again, he does achieve this to a certain degree, but it does not make him a different or happier person. He moves his family from Santo Domingo to Edison, New Jersey where they all live as a family before Papi leaves them for the Puerto Rican woman. Again, Yunior and his mother find themselves in a dire state of poverty, struggling to...