Name____________________________College English 12Opening Paragraph to Junot Diaz’s “Monstro”

Read the following passage. Make a prediction about what this story might be about. Be prepared to provide textual evidence to support your answer.

“Monstro”by Junot Diaz

At first, Negroes thought it funny. A disease that could make a Haitian blacker? It was the joke of the year. Ev-erybody in our sector accusing every-body else of having it. You couldn’t dis-play a blemish or catch some sun on the street without the jokes starting. Some-one would point to a spot on your armand say, Diablo, haitiano, que te pasó?

La Negrura they called it.The Darkness.

What do you predict this story might be about? Write a CER paragraph response. Be sure to provide evidence AND analyze the evidence so that it supports your claim.

Second Paragraph to Junot Diaz’s “Monstro”

Read the following passage. Pay attention to what we know about our narrator at this point. Who is he or she? Where does he or she live? What is his or her background? Attitude? Style? Be prepared to provide textual evidence to support your answer.

These days everybody wants to know what you were doing when the world came to an end. Fools make up all sorts of vainglorious self-serving plep—but me, I tell the truth.

I was chasing a girl.I was one of the idiots who didn’t

heed any of the initial reports, who gotcaught way out there. What can I tell you? My head just wasn’t into any mys-terious disease—not with my mom sickand all. Not with Mysty.

Motherfuckers used to say culowould be the end of us. Well, for me itreally was.

What is a defining characteristic or quality that you’re able to deduce about this character? What do we know about him or her? Write a CER paragraph response. Be sure to provide evidence AND analyze the evidence so that it supports your claim.

Read to the first STOP marker on page 109. Complete the following questions.

1. Summarize the story in 2-4 sentences.

2. What do we know about our narrator at this point in the story? Describe him as best you can.

3. List three discussion questions we could use for a class conversation.

a.

b.

c.

Reflection Questions

1. What seems to be the relationship between Haitians and Dominicans?

2. What is the relationship between Haitians and the Western Hemisphere? 

3. How does the disease affecting the Haitians serve as an allegory for issues of race, gender and class?

4. How does power change or shift during the story? In the end, what is the power that Haitians have? 

5. How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect the macrocosm (large world) of the society in which it was composed? Or, What does the plague in Haiti tell us about the larger world?