"No Face" RR By Ellington Cee Questions 1 and 2

RR for English 102

Proff Rachel Corona

“No Face” By Junot Diaz

Ellington Cee

1) The idea of masculinity in the story appears in a number of ways. One is that he’s adopted an insulated persona, where words and taunts from the town folks don’t bother him. Demonstrated early on in the reading, when a few town folks yell, No Face, and he simply ignores them remembering that he has no time to waste on feeling sorry for himself, and has learned to adopt a stoic approach, “as men” are often portrayed to do. They supposedly roll up their sleeves and press on with their hard lives.

No face clearly does live up and demonstrates traits of masculinity.  One example would be that nowhere in the story does “No Face” ever cry. Following “the old saying” that boys don’t cry.  Even when he’s enduring a beating by the four bullies, he never yells out for help, expecting to be saved by the town folks. He’s already been conditioned and accepts that he’s an outcast.  During the story it appears that at every turn he experiences hostility. Like when the cleaning lady yells at him to stay away from here. He learns to offset his obvious physical flaw by using a physical asset to scare off or intimidate an aggressor.  In this case he gripped the bars of the gate and pulled them a bit apart, grunting to show her who she was messing with. An act like this would be a more masculine approach, rather than what a woman would stereotypically do, which is to try and reason with the cleaning lady that there was no threat being made to the Girl.  

No face also briefly takes on the roll of town hero, as he helps the Viejo push his shopping cart. And he also helped a cat a cross the street. He also bought a comic book of Kaliman ‘who takes no shit and wears a turban. “No face” is clearly fantasizing about being a superhero-a man boy with supernatural powers. As the narrator wrote, that No Face has the power to be invisible.  Another point is that although, most famous superhero’s are Masculine. I don’t necessarily believe that all aspiring superhero’s are male. Females also fantasize about having super powers. Especially the Power to control men and society.

2) No face often runs because subconsciously the trauma that he suffered and all of it’s negative consequences- being teased, being ridiculed, being laughed at and being picked on have caused him to remain stuck. A part of his psyche and his time space have been suspended as he periodically relives The Mauling. Demonstrated by the Nightmare he experienced as he mentally relived the Attack by the big pig. By running very fast, he wishes that he might be able to somehow alter the events of the past and the Present.

Running symbolizes how we recognize that when we stay still, when we are accessible we become an easier target, we give the world an opportunity to harm us. When "No Face" runs, his physical and emotional vulnerabilities lose their power over him. When he Runs his weaknesses are not so apparent- he feels safe and in control. Running is a method of escape. Escape always seems like the better option when we deal with adversity. In the story he's constantly being accosted and ridiculed, running makes him an elusive target. His desire is not to experience the pain he endures by being ostracized, For him, running is self preservation. Just like our ancestors ran from a tyrannosaurs rex or a hungry lion.