Compare And Contrast When I Was Puerto Rican With

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In the book The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson Jack Kemp is an alcoholic journalist who is trying to escape the typical 1950's routine. Jack moves to Puerto Rico to join a newspaper that is close to going under. He is against anything that resembles what the general population is doing. He is a nomad traveling from place to place in search for that one thing that will make him happy. Throughout the book we learn a lot about Jack Kemp. He is a functioning drunk who manages to get his work done but never goes beyond what is expected of him. He is attracted to his friends girlfriend Chenault. She came down to Puerto Rico to get away from New York city in search of something different and fun. Jack is overly obsessed with the thought of becoming old. He talks about himself as if he was an elderly man on his death bed. He sees Yaemon and Chenault as the younger crowd and he is much older than them when in reality he is less than ten years older than them. Jack is Jack is afraid of committing to anything. Jack gets an apartment, and a car but that doesn't last long. At the end of the book we find out that he is leaving everything behind and moving back to New York City. He makes so much progress towards having a stable life but ultimately gives it all up and goes on the run back to civilization. When I Was Puerto Rican and The Rum Diary show Puerto Rico in the years before complete colonization by the United States. Both books show Puerto Rico as an island right on the verge of becoming industrialized. The Rum Diary describes Puerto Rico as a filthy island with hostile people. Whereas When I was When I Was Puerto Rican describes Puerto Rican in a much better light. There are times when she describes the dirtiness of the barrios but never with hate or disdain. The Rum Diary makes Puerto Rico look like a Caribbean version of the Wild Wild

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