Drown Summary & Analysis

When Yunior is home watching television, Yunior’s mother tells him that his old friend Beto is home from college. When his mother is asleep, Yunior puts on his jacket and goes to see if Beto is home. Yunior notes that Beto is a pato (faggot) now, but that they used to be close enough that both he and his mother considered Beto to be a member of their family.

Yunior remembers that the summer before Beto went to college, the two boys were “raging”: stealing everything they could, breaking windows, and challenging people to come out and fight with them just because they felt invincible.

Yunior explains that Beto was “delirious” at the thought of leaving for college because he hated everything about their neighborhood and wanted to leave as soon as he was able. As a result, Beto never understood why Yunior did not have the same drive to leave their hometown. Yunior told Beto that, unlike him, he still has a year of high school left and no opportunities anywhere else.

As he makes his way towards Beto’s apartment, Yunior remembers the ways that the two boys used to spend their summers together. During the days, the pair would go to the mall or play stickball in a local parking lot, but at night they would eagerly hop the plastic fence at the local pool to swim with the rest of the neighborhood children. This was the most effective way of beating the “heavy” summer heat, splashing and goofing off until the neighborhood adults yelled at them to go home to their own apartments. 

When he arrives at Beto’s apartment, Yunior is stirred from his memory. He puts his ear to the door, but only hears the sound of Beto’s air conditioner. He explains that he has not even decided if he wants to speak to Beto at all since the two have not seen each other for two years.

In spite of himself, Yunior makes his way towards the familiar racket at the local pool, assuming that Beto will be there. As he has gotten older, it has become much harder for him to hop the fence, and a neighborhood teenager mocks him as he falls over the top.

When Yunior straightens up, he notices that he is one of the oldest people at the pool, surrounded mostly by the younger siblings of his high school classmates, who recognize him primarily as the guy who “sells them their shitty dope.”

Only mildly daunted by his relative age, Yunior dives into the water. Still a talented swimmer, he glides underwater for a long time without making a splash. He takes refuge in the “whispers” that he finds under the surface, a welcome contrast to the loud brightness above. He notes that, when they were younger, there was always a risk of coming up for air and finding the cops yelling at them to get out of the pool and go home. 

When Yunior comes up for air, he is comforted by the familiar signs of teenage mischief around him. He notices an old sign that says “No Running, No Defecating, No Urinating, No Expectorating,” to which someone has added “No Fat Chiks.” When they were younger, Yunior recalls that Beto became upset with him when Yunior knew what “expectorating” meant and Beto did not. When Yunior would not tell Beto where he learned the word, Beto held Yunior’s head under water for a long time until he began to choke. Beto, Yunior recalls, did not like it when Yunior knew something that he didn’t.

Yunior explains that he still lives alone with his mother, and though she still pays the rent and utilities, he makes enough to cover the phone bill. Despite their close quarters, Yunior’s mother is so quiet that Yunior is often startled to find her in the apartment. He explains that she has “discovered the secret to silence,” walking, cooking and crying without making any noise.

Returning from the pool, Yunior finds that his mother is still awake and he watches television with her. They settle on the Spanish language news because it provides violence for Yunior to watch and drama for his mother. They watch the story of a baby that survived a seven-story fall out of a window.

Yunior’s mother is disappointed that he wasn’t able to find Beto, thinking that it is a shame that the two don’t talk anymore. Yunior’s mother tells him that Beto is doing well and is about to start business school in the fall.

When Yunior’s mother tells Yunior that Beto also asked how he was doing, Yunior is angry and embarrassed that she didn’t lie and tell Beto that Yunior had his own apartment. Yunior’s mother doesn’t understand why the two men don’t speak anymore, and she counsels Yunior that they should make up the way she and Yunior’s father have: they were once very angry at each other but are now able to be civil. Yunior ignores her and continues to watch the television.

Over the weekend, Yunior’s mother asks him to take her to the mall. Yunior agrees, explaining that he sees it as one of his duties as a son, despite the fact that they have to walk two miles through “red neck territory” to catch the bus. 

Before they can go out, however, Yunior’s mother makes Yunior check every window latch in their house. Despite the fact that they never open their windows, Yunior’s mother is paranoid that intruders will break in when she is out and hold her hostage, which happened to one of her friends when she was “lazy” and didn’t lock her windows.

Yunior notes that it is a special occasion when his mother decides to go out, and she always gets dressed up and puts on makeup. As a result, Yunior cannot resent taking her to the mall even though he often sells the bulk of his drugs on Saturdays, so the mall trips interrupt his work.

Yunior recognizes most of the kids on the bus to be teenagers that he sells to. He prays he will not be recognized, but his mother seems not to notice.

At the mall, Yunior gives his mother fifty-dollars to spend. He explains that, when he was younger, his father would give her one hundred dollars to spend at the beginning of the summer for Yunior’s new clothes. She would take over a week to spend it all, hunting carefully through the various bargain bins. Yunior hates to think of his mother bargain hunting.

While his mother shops, Yunior tracks the same route through the mall that he and Beto used to at the height of their shoplifting. He recalls the way that they finessed their routine, taking time to stop and browse through merchandise instead of just pulling a “grab and run.” Of the two of them, Beto was better at being smooth, often asking cashiers for directions or asking Yunior what he thought of a particular item even as his bag was full of stolen goods.

Beto’s recklessness always made Yunior uneasy, worrying that the two might go to jail. Beto made fun of Yunior’s worry, explaining that there is no jail time for shoplifting and the police just let your father discipline you. For Beto, this is not much of a punishment because his father has arthritis. Yunior is startled when Beto tells him that his father doesn’t hit him, assuming that his own father’s violent temper and history of physical abuse is shared by all fathers.

Yunior recalls that his mother never suspected that he was shoplifting, even though he brought home large quantities of new clothes. Yunior’s father, however, saw exactly how his son was spending his time and cautioned him that he would get caught eventually.

Indeed, one day when shoplifting from the book store, Yunior and Beto get stopped by the store security guard asking to check their bag. Yunior tries to walk past her, but Beto stops and hits her in the face with his bag. The two boys try to run from the cops, but are found by store security hiding under a car across from the bus stop, having been too scared to take the bus. Yunior notes that they held hands when they were found.

Without Beto’s friendship, Yunior now spends his evenings with his friends Alex and Danny, drinking at a sleepy bar full of “washouts and sucias.” The men drink too much and fight with each other, scaring the wait staff and other patrons. On the way home from the bar, Yunior notices the Raritan River in the distance, noting that it is the same river that Beto goes to school on. 

In the mornings, Yunior explains that he always goes for a run behind his apartment. When he runs, Yunior looks for an army recruiter who has stopped him before and asked him to enlist. Back when the recruiter stopped Yunior, he explained that the army gave him “loyalty” and “discipline.” Although Yunior turned him down at the time, he notes that he would now easily take the recruiter’s offer because he “just wants to be anywhere else.” 

When Yunior returns from his run, he finds his mother whispering on the phone. She is on the phone with Yunior’s father, who lives in Florida with a girlfriend. Yunior explains that he often calls his mother to beg for money, lying that he will leave his current girlfriend if she moves to Florida herself. Yunior’s mother knows that Yunior disapproves of their phone calls, so she leaves the refrigerator door open in hopes that its hum will mask the sound of her voice.

Yunior remembers that he often skipped classes when he and Beto were in high school. Because he didn’t have a car, Yunior would spend the day watching TV or watching old documentaries at the library, making his way back to the neighborhood at night to see Beto. Sometimes, however, Beto was not around because he was visiting other neighborhoods or spending the evening in Manhattan instead. Yunior notes that Beto had friends that Yunior didn’t know, some of whom were active in the New York club scene. Despite Yunior’s questions, Beto rarely told him about what he did on his nights out, although he did always encourage Yunior to expand his horizons and meet new people.

Some nights, Yunior explains that he drives with Alex and Danny to New Brunswick to drink at bars with college girls. The young women don’t dance with them, but Yunior and his friends get adrenaline even from being refused. After the clubs close, they speed through the empty streets, keeping the windows open so that Alex will not fall asleep and wreck his third car.

The men always drive past a gay bar on the way home, and Alex will often pull into the parking lot and pretend to ask for directions. When one of the men comes over to help him, Alex points a plastic pistol at the men outside the bar “to see if they will run or shit their pants.”

Spurred by this, Yunior explains that the nature of his relationship with Beto abruptly changed the summer before he left for college. One day, the two boys were in his apartment after going swimming, watching one of Beto’s father’s porn videos. Yunior notes that Beto’s father often watched porn in the middle of the day, even as Beto’s mother cooked in the kitchen. Often Beto would watch porn with his father in silence.

As the two boys watched the video, Beto reached into Yunior’s pants and began to give him a hand job. He continued despite Yunior’s protest and confusion. Yunior recalls that he ejaculated immediately out of fear and then left as soon as he could. Beto said nothing as Yunior left to go home; he just kept watching TV.

The day after Beto’s sexual advance, Yunior refuses to spend time with Beto, spending the day in the basement instead, terrified that he will end up “abnormal.” When his mother tries to find out what is wrong, Yunior snaps at her, causing his father, who is visiting from Florida, to slap him.

Despite his feelings of hurt and confusion, Yunior still goes to the pool that night because Beto is still his best friend. After they swim in silence, Beto takes Yunior back to his house and gives him a hand job again. Beto offers to stop, but Yunior is afraid to say anything. After Beto is done, he lies his head in Yunior’s lap, oblivious to Yunior’s discomfort.

Confronted with the reality of Beto leaving for college, Yunior thinks back to a time when his high school teachers made his class watch the space shuttle launch from Florida. The teacher compared each student to the shuttle, explaining that only some would have the emotional momentum to ascend, while the rest would merely burn out. Yunior remembers feeling, in that moment, as if he himself was already losing altitude.

After the second sexual encounter, Yunior sits in silence on Beto’s couch for a long time. Soon, he hears the hallway door burst open. He jumps up, terrified, but Beto is unfazed, explaining that it is only his neighbor. Nevertheless, Yunior puts his clothes back on and leaves Beto’s apartment.

The narrative returns to the present, weeks after Yunior went looking for Beto at the pool. Yunior explains that he believes he saw Beto driving in his father’s car, but he assumes that Beto is already back at school. Yunior is still dealing drugs in his neighborhood, but the teenagers he deals to now have part-time jobs of their own.

When Yunior gets home, he finds his mother cooking dinner. She shows him new t-shirts that she bought for him on two-for-one special. Despite their tight fit, Yunior is grateful to her and thanks her for the new clothes.

The two sit down to watch a classic Spanish movie on TV and Yunior gives his mother the money that he earned for the day. She chastises him for crumpling the bills and smooths them out herself.

As they watch the movie, Yunior’s mother takes his hand in hers. Near the end of the film, she falls asleep and he imagines that she is dreaming of walking in Boca Raton with his father. When the movie ends, Yunior shakes his mother awake and she asks him to check the windows before they go to sleep. He promises that he will.