Literary Analysis Essay on The Money

Introduction

Junot Diaz, through his story "The Money", brings out the main point based on educating his audience on how living as a poor immigrant with no one to trust felt. The narrator uses a story to explain the challenges he went through from lack of parental support, attention, and support to burglary even from his small circle that would break into their house after they go for a vacation.

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The money is a short story that appeared in the New Yorker in June 2011. It was written by Junot Diaz, a credible author with a series of award-winning novels. Following his academic and professional prominence, he had some authority earning his work credibility. The information that appears on the top page of the poem about the appearance of the short story on the New Yorker makes the audience rate his short story as credible, and therefore they read it. It is the illustration of the use of ethos to prove the credibility and authority of the author. Also, the narrator uses words that are used mostly by members of the minority groups such as the African America, answering the concerning regarding the choice of words that the narrator uses, in essence, "they'd broken into the apartment while we were away and taken our shit." (Diaz). The author uses the word "shit" while talking about his mother's money and his books. The author would significantly gain credibility and authority among black teenage and youth immigrant audiences due to his choice of words and vocabularies.

From the story, the author makes use of logos though not in a significant way. The author provides the audience with facts about how they lived as immigrants. He states that they lived in the expectation of a robbery or a mug, and it all depended on your time for that to happen unto you. He says, "It's not like the robbery came as some huge surprise. In our neighborhood, cars and apartments were always getting jacked, and the kid stupid enough to leave a bike unattended for more than .1 seconds was the kid who was never going to see that bike again." (Diaz) Through these facts, the author can convince his audience on how it was normal for theft and burglary to occur in the area where they lived.

The author uses pathos a great deal to appeal to the emotions of the audience on how hard it was living with a mother who did not care much about you especially when it came to diet and clothing, and at the end, it is like you survive on your own with no one to trust. From the story, the family does not have a steady income as the father was always losing his low-income job (Diaz). On the other hand, his mother, who is supposed to take care of the family, uses the money the father, left her for daily family expenses in taking care of her parents, maybe as a way of compensating for her absentia. The narrator states, "She chipped dollars off from the cash Papi gave her for our daily expenses, forced we already broke family to live even broker. In those times when nobody gave a damn about nutrition, we alone among our friends never had juice, soda, snacks in our apartment. Not ever. And you can forget about eating at McDonald's or having clothes with original labels." (Diaz) The story appeals to the audiences' emotions as clearly one feels sympathy over the family's circumstance. The way the kids are not taken of in the right direction and their parents who should take care of them instead chooses her parents over them makes it even sadder. Moreover, the other parent keeps losing his job, and as a result, it was likely that the mother could use all the money and leave the family at nothing (Diaz). The aspect appeals to the emotions of the audience.

It was quite expected that new immigrants had to experience burglary in their households. After going for the vacation, their house is broken into, and money that the mother had saved together with the author's favorite books are stolen. Upon return, the family of the narrator has a tough time as the mother curses everyone in the state, including her children, who she had with her in the vacation. The author figures out who the culprits of the burglary are, and in the end, he confidently goes to retrieve the money for his mother (Diaz). After retrieving the money and bringing it back to his mother, the author states, "I guess I was expecting my mother to run around in joy, to crown me her favorite son, to at least cook me my favorite meal. Nada. She just looked at the money and then at me and went back to her bedroom and put it back in its place. I'd wanted a party or at least to see her happy, but there was nothing." (Diaz).The story appeals to the emotions of the audience in that relating to the feeling of wanting attention and praise from our parents, especially in a low-income family, is way too emotional. Efforts and risks of the author to retrieve the money back go unappreciated, and this makes this appeal to the emotions of the audience, and they feel sympathy.

In the story, the author explains how he finds out that his friends who we're pretending to be emotional and to be feeling the situation of the narrator. The struggle he goes through to retrieve the money and the books from his own friend's house, especially under the mattress. The friend then the next day complains of how someone stole all his savings and told the author that no one is to be trusted (Diaz). Here, the audience of the narrator emotionally relates to the story as most people have had their friends betray them and do them the dirtiest things. As a result, the audiences feel sympathy as they relate to the betrayal feels. Lack of trust from one's parent can be the worst thing in someone's life. The author explains how his mother makes it appear like he was the one who had informed the friends of the family's absence so that they could rob the money so they could share. This part of the story evokes very emotional feelings, and it evokes sympathy from the audience for the narrator.

The intended audience of the text is most likely black immigrant adolescents who are brought up in families where they are not well off financially. Based on the choice of words and vocabularies and the kind of narration the narrator gives, he is seen to target the youth who are just surviving. The speaker wants the audience not to hold issues that arise from family issues personally, as everyone else is almost going through the same (Diaz). More importantly, the speaker wants them to stand up for themselves, fight for themselves where no one else is there to stand for them. He wants them to trust no one, even their closest friends, as everyone can let you down anytime.

Furthermore, the speaker wishes that the audience does not to involve themselves in fights and unnecessary dramas; instead, he wants them to do what they can to save themselves from situations that may require them to fight, and always be conservative on characters and reactions of people who are close to them. Following his example, the author, after finding out that his friends were the ones who had robbed his home after they had left, he looks for ways of retrieving what was lost peacefully (Diaz). He does not even ask his friend's why they stole from his family, and he also does not tell his mother, who was responsible for the missing money. He bears all the untrustworthy from his mom on his own.

Works Cited

Diaz, Junot. ""The Money"." Junot Diaz - Author Website, Junot Diaz, 19 May 2012, www.junotdiaz.com/2012/05/19/the-money/.

Diaz, Junot. "The Money." The New Yorker, New York Times, 6 June 2011, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/06/13/the-money. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.