As you read, mark the text whenever you see a

characteristic of a memoir.

IDENTIFY: Name: Class:

• Sensory Language
• 1st person perspective The Terror
• Figurative Language
By Junot Díaz
• Theme
2015

Junot Díaz is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor, and editor. Díaz's work
often focuses on the experience of immigrants. In this text, Díaz recounts a time he faced a
challenge with a teenage group of bullies.
Purpose for Reading: To understand how authors develop theme and to build our
understanding about making courageous choices in difficult times.

In this lesson, you’ll practice identifying an author’s central idea and how they support it.
This means paying attention to the evidence they give for their central idea and the
details they provide to clarify it. As you read, take note of the details that reveal the
author’s “terror” and how he reacts to it.

[1] I got jumped1 at a pretty bad time in my life.

1st person
Not that there’s ever a good time.

What I mean is that I was already deep in the

vulnerability matrix.2 I had just entered
seventh grade, was at peak adolescent
craziness and, to make matters worse, was
dealing with a new middle school whose
dreary white middle-class bigotry3 was cutting
the heart out of me. I wasn’t two periods into
my first day before a classmate called me a
‘‘—,’’ as if it were no big deal. Someone else "Untitled" by Warren Wong is licensed under
asked me if my family ate dogs every day or CC0.
only once in a while. By my third month, that
school had me feeling like the poorest, ugliest immigrant freak in the universe.
figurative language
My home life was equally trying.4 My father abandoned the family the year before, plunging our

1. to get attacked by a group like a gang

2. an environment full of vulnerability or a state of feeling open to or susceptible to being
attacked or hurt
3. Bigotry (noun) extreme hatred or prejudice; the unwillingness to accept views, beliefs, and
behavior that differs from others
4. having a bad or difficult time

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 household into poverty. No sooner than that happened, my brother, who was one year older
and my best friend and protector, was found to have leukemia,5 the kind that in those days had
a real nasty habit of killing you. One day he was sprawled on our front stoop in London Terrace
holding court, and the next he was up in Newark, 40 pounds lighter and barely able to p—
under his own power, looking as if he were one bad cold away from the grave.
sensory language
I didn’t know what to do with myself. I tried to be agreeable, to make friends, but that didn’t
work so hot; mostly I just slouched in my seat, hating my clothes and my glasses and my face.
Sometimes I wrote my brother letters. Made it sound as though I were having a great time at
school — a ball.

[5] And then came the beat-down. Not at school, as I would have expected, but on the other side of
the neighborhood. At the hands and feet of these three brothers I dimly knew. The youngest
was my age, and on the day in question we had a spat6 over something — I can’t remember
what. I do remember pushing him down hard onto the sidewalk and laughing about it, and the
kid running off in tears, swearing he was going to kill me. Then the scene in my head jumps, and
the next thing I know, the kid comes back with his two older brothers, and I’m getting my face
punched in. The older brothers held me down and let the younger brother punch me all he
wanted. I cried out for my brother, but he was in Beth Israel Hospital, saving no one. I
remember one of the older ones saying, “Hit him in the teeth.’’

As these things go, it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t actually lose any teeth or break any limbs or
misplace an eye. Afterward, I even managed to limp home. My mother was at the hospital, so
no one noticed that I had gotten stomped. Even took my blackened eye to classes the next day,
but because my assailants attended another school, I didn’t have to tell the truth. I said, “It
happened in karate.’’

My first real beat-down, and I was furious and ashamed, but above all else I was afraid. Afraid
of my assailants. Afraid they would corner me again. Afraid of a second beat-down. Afraid and
afraid and afraid. Eventually the bruises and the rage faded, but not the fear. The fear
remained. An awful withering dread that coiled around my bowels7 — that followed me into my
dreams. (“Hit him in the teeth.’’) I guess I should have told someone, but I was too humiliated.
And besides, my No.1 confidant, my brother, wasn’t available.

So I locked up the whole miserable affair8 deep inside. I thought that would help, but
avoidance9 only seemed to give it more strength.

5. cancer of the bone marrow in which white blood cells grow uncontrollably
6. a fight over something silly or petty
7. your guts or lower intestines
8. an ordeal or situation that is being dealt with
9. Avoidance (noun) a state of keeping away from or not doing something

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 Without even thinking about it, I started doing everything I could to duck the brothers. I
shunned10 their part of the neighborhood. I started looking around buildings to make sure the
coast was clear. I stayed in the apartment a lot more, reading three, four books a week. And
whenever I saw the brothers, together or individually — in a car, on a bike, on foot — the fear
would spike through me so powerfully that I felt as though I was going to lose my mind. In
Dune, a novel I adored in those days, Frank Herbert observed that ‘‘Fear is the mind-killer,’’ and
let me tell you, my man knows of what he speaks. When the brothers appeared, I couldn’t think
for nothing. I would drop whatever I was doing and get away, and it was only later, after I
calmed down, that I would realize what I had done.

[10] The brothers didn’t pursue me. They would jeer at me and occasionally throw rocks, but even if
they weren’t chasing me in the flesh, they sure were chasing me in spirit. After these
encounters, I would be a mess for days: depressed, irritable, hypervigilant,11 ashamed. I hated
these brothers from the bottom of my heart, but even more than them, I hated myself for my
cowardice.12

Before that attack, I had felt fear plenty of times — which poor immigrant kid hasn’t? — but
after my beating, I became afraid. And at any age, that is a dismal place to be.

Given all the other crap I was facing, my adolescence was never going to win any awards. But
sometimes I like to think that if that beat-down didn’t happen, I might have had an easier time
of it. Maybe a whole bunch of other awfulness would not have happened. But who can really
know? In the end, the fear became another burden I had to shoulder — like having a sick
brother or brown skin in a white school.

Took me until I was a sophomore in high school — yes, that long — before I finally found it in
me to start facing my terror. By then, my older brother was in remission13 and wearing a wig to
hide his baldness. Maybe his improbable14 survival was what gave me courage, or maybe it was
all the Robert Cormier15 I was reading — his young heroes were always asking themselves, “Do
I dare disturb the universe?’’ before ultimately deciding that yes, they did dare. Whatever it was,
one day I found myself fleeing from a sighting of the brothers, and suddenly I was brought up
short by an appalling16 vision: me running away forever.
Theme
I forced myself to stop. I forced myself to turn toward them, and it felt as if the whole world was

10. Shun (verb) to avoid, ignore, or reject

11. Hypervigilant (adjective) being very watchful in case of danger
12. Cowardice (noun) having a lack of courage to face danger, pain, or difficulty
13. a period of time when a disease, like cancer, is no longer detectable
14. Improbable (adjective) unlikely to happen or come true
15. well-known author of young adult fiction; famous for The Chocolate War, I am the Cheese,
and After the First Death
16. Appalling (adjective) terrifying or horrible

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 Theme
turning with me. I couldn’t make myself walk toward them, I could barely even look at them, so I
settled for standing still. As the brothers approached, the ground started tilting out from under
me. One of them scowled.

[15] And then, without a word, they walked past.

First published in The New York Times and reprinted by permission of Junot Díaz and Aragi Inc.

Unless otherwise noted, this content is licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

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 Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete
sentences.

1. Which of the following identifies the central idea of the text?

A. Accepting fear showed Diaz how dangerous it is to be different.
B. Fear tormented and controlled Díaz until he no longer allowed it to.
C. Fear allowed Díaz to prepare for future struggles with the brothers.
D. Accepting fear allowed Diaz to accept being controlled by his enemies.

2. What is the best meaning of the word "assailants" as it is used in paragraph 6?

A. companions
B. neighbors
C. attackers
D. allies

3. Which piece of evidence from paragraph 7 best reveals Diaz's constant fear?
A. "My first real beat-down, and I was furious and ashamed, but above all
else I was afraid."
B. "Afraid of my assailants. Afraid they would corner me again."
C. "An awful withering dread that coiled around my bowels — that followed
me into my dreams."
D. "I guess I should have told someone, but I was too humiliated."

4. In paragraph 10, the author says, "Even if they weren't chasing me in the flesh, they
sure were chasing me in spirit." What does the speaker mean by this?
A. He felt afraid even when the brothers were not around.
B. He was worried because the brothers were faster than he was.
C. He was confused because the brothers did not physically want to hurt him.
D. He felt concerned when he realized that the brothers were following him
home.

5. How does the author feel about himself when he says, "I hated these brothers from
the bottom of my heart, but even more than them, I hated myself for my cowardice"?
(Paragraph 10)
A. He feels confident.
B. He feels proud.
C. He feels weak.
D. He feels alone.

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6. What inspired Diaz to stop running away? (Paragraph 13)
A. learning from his brother how to fight back
B. knowing he is equally matched to fight the brothers
C. reading a book about how to get even with enemies
D. reading stories of others who courageously faced frightening things

7. Which piece of evidence best reveals the idea that facing a fear requires
determination?
A. "But sometimes I like to think that if that beat-down didn't happen, I might
have had an easier time of it." (Paragraph 12)
B. "Whatever it was, one day I found myself fleeing from a sighting of the
brothers, and suddenly I was brought up short by an appalling vision: me
running away forever." (Paragraph 13)
C. "I couldn't make myself walk toward them, I could barely even look at
them, so I settled for standing still." (Paragraph 14)
D. "And then, without a word, they walked past." (Paragraph 15)

8. Summarize the text in 4-5 sentences.

Junot Diaz is a Dominican immigrant that moves to America. He is made fun of at school

for his skin color and one of his only friends, his brother, gets leukemia. He is then jumped

after having a spat with a kid his age by three assailants. He is skyrocketed into a spiral of

fear. Then, in his sophomore year of high school, he lets go of his fear and realizes that the

assailants just walk past, ending his fears.

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 Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be
prepared to share your original ideas in a class discussion.

1. How did Díaz allow his fear of the brothers to control his actions? When have you
witnessed or experienced the power of fear? Cite evidence from this text, your own
experience, and other literature, art, media, or history in your answer.

Diaz lets his fear take control of his actions, the fear makes him avoid the brothers every
time he sees them. He drops everything and makes his one objective to run away. This
cowardice makes him feel bad about himself, making him feel more alone and scared.
When I'm scared, I don't let it control me. I try to be rational and think about a more optimistic
way to think about things.

2. What does it mean to be brave? What motivates people to be brave? How did Díaz
finally confront his fears, and what was the result? Do you think Díaz acted bravely?
Why?

3. What does it mean to feel alone? How did Díaz's feelings of fear exaggerate his
feelings of loneliness? Cite evidence from this text, your own experience, and other
literature, art, media, or history in your answer.