a classless world

432 Words2 Pages
A Unisex and Classless world in Yo! Julia Alvarez desires a unisex and classless world in her novel Yo! Obviously, this world does not exist, but in the context of a real world, the character Yolanda does not recognize gender and class the way most others do. Her idea is for human beings to exist, but not to be placed into categories. The unisexual idea is most heavily seen in The Best Friend chapter, and the idea of a classless world is most observed in chapters such as The Caretakers and The Night Watchman. I will argue that this unisexual and classless world is what Alvarez desires and can be observed through the way Yolanda Garcia treats the people she encounters and befriends in the novel. Other, more subtle methods are used to enlighten this world as well. In The Best Friend chapter, we observe a distaste of men early on when Yolanda’s best friend describes meetings she goes to, saying “At the back of every black canvas…is an ex-husband, a-soon-to-be ex-husband or a bad lover or an unresponsive lover” (132). From the start, this establishes the uncomfortable relationship with men that the best friend always has, and can not get over. These meetings run by Brett, a homosexual woman, help pound the idea into the best friend’s head that men are the source of all their problems. Yolanda herself does not feel completely comfortable around men, as she will not share her poems with them. How do the women solve this problem that they have with men? They can not just get rid of men, because this is an impossibility in the real world. Instead, Yolanda and her best friend cross-dress two of their male friends so they can feel more at ease. The best friend expresses her delight at this, saying “And i’m thinking, why this is a fantasy of mine as well. To find a male girlfriend with whom I can share my bed as well as the state of my soul” (150). The words male
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