The Money by Junot Diaz Analysis

1. After Diaz returned the stolen money to his mother, he hoped she would celebrate his
exploits and reward him. Instead, she did nothing (16). Why do you think Diaz’s mother
reacted in this way?
Diaz’s mother reacted this way due to the conflict in ideas. She did get the money, that
was important to her, back but her son had stolen meaning he had, essentially,
committed a crime. This was something she couldn’t congratulate him on but she
couldn’t get angry due to the money, that was important to her, being given back.
2. “Anyway this is where the tale should end, right?” (10). To whom is this question
addressed? Why do you think Diaz asks it? What assumptions is he making about his
audience?
This question is addressed to the readers and the reason Diaz asks it is to engage the
audience, continue the playful tone, and build suspense and foreshadow to something
more happening later on. Diaz is assuming his audience is familiar with and expects a
traditional story.
3. Diaz does not construct his narrative as just another family’s tale of victimization, yet he
doesn’t exactly provide a happy ending either. How does his story compare and contrast
with the kind where the hero is celebrated at the end? Diaz’s story is the same in that he
got what he needed from the “villains,” in the story and that everything ended up being
fine. But different in how his mom did not do anything for him and just acted as if nothing
had happened after she was given her stolen money back.
4. Before her “loot” gets “jacked” by the two “dopes” in Diaz’s story, his mother is stashing
away money to send to her parents in the Dominican Republic (1, 4, 10). Point to other
examples of Diaz’s use of slang. How does this language add to (or detract from) his
account? Diaz’s use of slang gives the reader a better understanding of his setting,
showing that where he grew up was a rough place where people would steal a lot, giving
you more sympathy for the character based on their setting.
5. “Raskolnikov glances” are guilty glances, like those of Rodion Raskolnikov, the uneasy
perpetrator of murder in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment (1866).
Where else in his narrative does Diaz make allusions to his reading and other intellectual
pursuits? What do they reveal about his youthful self (10)? He makes reference to
Encyclopedia Brown and the three Investigators. Furthermore he also has Dungeons
and Dragons books. These reveal that he may have been considered a bit more
“nerdier” at the time and that he was interested in more intellectual books.
6. In his story, Diaz sprinkles in Spanish words, untranslated (‘abuelos,""nada,""Papi”).
Why do you think he mixes languages this way? What, if anything, would be lost if he did
not? When it comes to Spanish speaking immigrants, the mix of English and Spanish is
extremely common. It’s important for him to retain the “spanglish” as it highlights the type
of culture of hispanic immigrants.