Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Free Discussion on Aurora
What are your thoughts on the relationship between the narrator and Aurora in Junot Diaz's short story? Post your thoughts, or post a question. Post anything. This is an informal discussion on the story; the only requirement is that you must respond to the person who posts before you. I'd like to see a little more dialogue on the board. I'll chime in too.
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I actually found Aurora to be a great read. It seemed very real to me. I'm not sure if Diaz was writing from experience, but the situations he describes are very vivid. The narrator no doubt loves Aurora, but not in the typical sense I believe. It's like a love- hate relationship. Maybe it's a situation of convenience. She's there at that moment, so why not? She seems not to really care about him until she is locked up. She comes and goes, not calling for days. She is addicted to drugs and the lifestyle, so he may just be a part of the addiction. If she sobers up, her view of the world and him could possibly change.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you make of the physical violence between Aurora and the narrator? How is it similar and/or different from the domestic violence in "Woman Hollering Creek.?
ReplyDeleteI think it's very typical of a drug dealer to deal with love in that way. For some reason they end up to be angry people and the people they associate with them are just like them or sometimes even worse. This is definetely like a love and hate relationship. I agree with Nikisha because these two cahracters go on and off with their situation and its got to a point where they just get used to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone's comments. It was a love/ hate relationship between them. It is similar to "Woman Hollering Creek" because the narrator was describing his mental and physical relationship with Aurora. I noticed that he sometimes went off in tangents about the past, and also he fantasized about how it would have been for them to be together like he always wanted. The only difference between "Woman Hollering Creek" and the narrator was that the domestic violence was from the abused point of view and the domestic violence in Aurora was from the abuser point of view. It was interesting to see how alike the abused and abuser thought about their situations.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty I think this was my favorite story. Yes, this was a love and hate relationship. This was a sick and twisted relationship. I think the reason why the narrator would go off into tangents is because I feel it was the authors main goal to have the reader not focus on the relationship, but rather on the difficulties people some times have when they want to move forward in life and progress but have something that is tying them down. Those tangents wether in the past or the future is the narrators desire to change and Aurora can symbolize his anchor to one spot in life.
ReplyDeleteI think the violence between Aurora and the narrator seems to come naturally, which is a rather odd statement. Perhaps it is their way of showing love in their not so typical relationship. It differs from "Woman Hollering Creek" because the abuse is equal between the two. Aurora fights back. It seems like the relationship and bond between Aurora and the narrator get stronger after every volatile encounter they have.
ReplyDeletethe relationship is aurora is like what Eduardo said. love hate relationship. this kind of relationship is between the narrator and aurora and also the narrator and his girlfriend as well. when his girlfriend gets outa jail he tries to avoid her by listening to aurora advice but he ends up with his girlfriend again. but all of the sudden hes back to hitting her and making her bleed which is the hate part of the relationship. and the girlfriend accepts the abuse and returns to the love aspect of the relationship. i think this quote sums up the whole story " we seem like we were normal folk. Like everything was fine." this statement tries to justify their peculiar relationship. this violence is also different than woman hollering creek because at least here there is a love aspect, the characters rejoin after a small episode of violence but in womans hollering creek there is no reconnection the wife runs away.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hymie, but love is uncontrollable feeling that people share regardless of what they do in life. Everyone seems to forget that both Aurora and the narrator loved each other; instead they call them crack heads. I believe that everyone has the right to love, and that’s what kept happening in the story. Love was the magic stick that always have had gathered both characters after all the obstacles they had been through
ReplyDeleteI think you're focusing on what ideal love is; caring for someone regardless of what they are like. Love is unpredictable, but at the same time there comes a point where the ideal and reality collide; that's what's going on with the narrator and Aurora. The narrator is dealing with the reality that Aurora is a crackhead
ReplyDeleteI feel like the relationship between Aurora and the narrator help to create a theme of addiction. As you can see both Aurora and the narrator either love or hate one another. The relationship is like that of an addict trying to stop using. Neither of them truly want to be together, but somehow feel compelled to. It's almost as if both are addicted to one another. This relationship helps to zone in on the fact that there are addicts within the story and that Aurora and the narrator are just the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree wit Nikisha the violence in Aurora is different than in Woman Hollering Creek because Aurora fought back and sometimes even started the fights but in Woman Hollering Creek Cisneros never fought back and was just being abused. I think the narrator and Aurora are no good for each other. They have that love hate relationship but i think they bring out the worst in each other. What would it take for them to change and make it work? Can they ever change with each other?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Sonia is saying and in my opinion, i think that in Aurora, both Aurora and the narrator could change for the better if they had to because they were in love. Most people don't go through the situations that the narrator and Aurora go through such as breaking into abandoned buildings just to see each other. Aurora could change her life in terms of staying out of juvie to be with the narrator more. I think that the only way the narrator would change his life for Aurora would be if they got married, then he would have to think long term and doing his line of work, it's not going to last him all his life. He might go to jail himself and realize that there are better things in this world than selling drugs. People do change but it takes time and dedication to see the situation through, so there is a possiblility that they could change. In Woman Hollering Creek, the only way for Cleofilas to realize that there is a better life out there is to go explore it. Arranged marriages usually don't turn out well, in Woman Hollering Creek, it turned out to be the worst possible life because the husband was controlling and they only way for him to change would be to go through therapy but most people don't even see that they have a problem, its just a normal reaction.
ReplyDeleteI mean't the husband was abusive***
ReplyDeleteI agree with Roman. The narrator is not thinking long-term. It is very obvious that Aurora and him are deeply in love. But it seems like they cant do much about it because of their living conditions. They should stay out of trouble and think about themselves more. If they get married, like Roman said, they would realize that they have responsibilities and they cannot live their lives this way any longer.
ReplyDeleteCrystal
ReplyDeleteI agree with the zainab when it comes to the narrator not thinking long term but I don't feel that marriage would have solved his problems with Aurora. In my opinion, the narrator felt way more strongly for Aurora than she felt for him. It’s like she has a lot of control over him because he can’t stop seeing her even when they aren’t really together. Every time they see one another, it s the same routine. They make up for the last reason they split up, they have sex and sleep it off and then the narrator wakes up to find out Aurora has robbed him yet again. So the fact that he knows this makes it impossible for him not to love her. He has to love her because he puts up with her stealing. I don’t think she is just convenient to him. And as far as I can explain aurora. She is addicted to crack and he is a easy supplier. I do think that it is possible that she did truly love him at once but now she seems to love crack more.
Sometimes people just find comfort and validation in the weirdest places. Take the narrator for example he is clearly comfortable with the idea of being robbed because he goes back to it (unless he is expecting her to miraculously change). Aurora also finds comfort in being wanted so consistently by someone even with all the crazy things she does. My only confusion is this, Is the narrator just as addicted to his life style the same way Aurora is addicted to what ever she is addicted to ?
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