29 pages • 58 minutes read
Junot DíazA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Campo is the Spanish word meaning “the field.” The fact that this term is mentioned in a separate language distances the reader and the narrator from the idea or image associated with the word. It appears in reference to the narrator playing in said field with “half-naked kids dragging a goat on a rope” (Paragraph 2). The narrator’s active choice in phrasing makes a distinction between the familiar environment of New Jersey and his homeland of the Dominican Republic. This effectively shows one of the subtle ways that the narrator distances himself from the idea of being an immigrant.
This potentially offensive term is given to the girl who has a white mother and a Latinx father. The multiracial girl who is identified with this term has the most consistent characterization in the text. Yet, she is also a character who seems just as ambivalent about her racial identity as the narrator.
By Junot Díaz