America's Postcolonial Ideologies in “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”
- DestinyMashina
- May 14, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: Dec 11, 2025
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America’s Postcolonial Ideologies in “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”
The short story “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz represents a coming-of-age story regarding a high school boy exploring his sexually active side in the dating world. However, underneath this persona of freedom, exploration, and sexual liberation, there is a dark truth surrounding race, class, gender, and socio-economic differences plunging into the heart of Americans causing tension with themselves and one another. The story unmasks America as a postcolonial country with a great veil of power used to discriminate, divide, and exploit its citizens.
The narrator has man vs self-conflicts revolving around his race via mimicry which Tyson defines as “individuals trying to imitate their colonizers, as much as possible, in dress, speech, behavior, and lifestyle” (403). This is shown when the narrator initially meets up with the girl he invites over to his house, and he tries to act cool by running “a hand through your hair like the whiteboys do even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa” (Diaz, 403). Trying to impress the date, he performs a move that doesn’t work with his hair type, and is completely aware of this, but does it regardless. Striving to mimic the “whiteboy” hair flip, he thinks these acts performed with “white” hair will make him more appealing. The narrator has this ideology that “white” hair is more attractive than his thicker African hair. Representing the white vs non-white binary, the narrator categorizes physical features commonly associated with white people as prettier and more attractive.
The narrator’s man vs self-conflict is also shown through colonization of the consciousness which “convinces them (non-whites) to see...that they are mentally, spiritually, and culturally inferior to their conquerors” (Tyson, 61) via hiding specific objects throughout his house. When preparing for the girl’s arrival, the narrator needed to “[c]lear the government cheese from the refrigerator” (Diaz, 402) and hide it, whether in a cabinet or stacked behind the milk. Then he proceeds to take down any “embarrassing photos” of his family and him when he was younger, “especially the one with the half-naked kids dragging a goat on a rope leash.” Finally, he blatantly states, “Hide the pictures of yourself with an Afro” (402). Living in Jersey, the narrator thinks his childhood in the countryside, half nude and all-natural, is not something he should be proud of and doesn’t want others, especially girls, to see. Embodying this colonialist ideology, the young man is putting on a persona of higher-class status and eurocentrism for his guests. Portraying the civilized vs uncivilized binary, the narrator reinforces the privileged term by making it seem that his racial and cultural family history is unsophisticated, savage, and therefore must be hidden.
Alongside physical mementos and gestures, the narrator’s colonialist ideology is evoked when he is around others. Specifically with white characters, his ideology of eurocentrism, “the use of European culture as the standard to which all other cultures are negatively contrasted” (Tyson, 401) bleeds through. While describing when a white girl might advance in sexual activity, he instructs, “Tell her that you love her hair, that you love her skin, her lips, because, in truth, you love them more than you love your own” (Diaz, 404). Once again, the narrator brings up hair while adding skin and lips to the list. Wishing he possesses these looks, the narrator experiences internalized racism meaning he feels “inferior to whites, less attractive, less worthwhile, less capable, and often wish[es] [he] looked more white” (Tyson, 346). Referring to her lighter skin tone, smaller shaped lips, and thinner hair, the narrator supports the white vs nonwhite binary, declaring that these European characteristics are the ideal standard that he does not fit into but wishes he would.
The narrator's psychological conflicts also occur through the concept of unhomeliness defined as the “feeling of being caught between cultures, of belonging to neither rather than to both...” (Tyson, 403). The narrator’s improper English is revealed with lexical terms such as “moms”, the incorrect usage of the contraction “ain’t” in the fourth line, and the lack of quotation marks around any dialect in the story. On the other hand, the narrator refers to his Spanish skills as “busted-up” and says “[l]et her correct you if she’s Latina...” (Diaz, 403). Not entirely American and not entirely Dominican, the narrator is confused as to who he is and how he may properly identify himself. Being stuck in this limbo of lacking self-identity, he wants to find himself. This influences his mimicry and represents how observant he is in seeing how others, specifically whites, look.
The narrator is not the only character with man vs self-conflicts. Many of the supporting characters experience personal issues living in postcolonial America that are unearthed within the text. One of the boldest examples is when the halfie reveals to the narrator during dinner, “Black people...treat me real bad. That’s why I don’t like them” (Diaz, 404). Similar to the narrator, the halfie experiences unhomeliness, but on top of that, she experiences intra-racial racism “which refers to discrimination within the black community against those with darker skin and more African features” (Tyson, 346). However, in her case, the intra-racial racism is reversed because she is discriminated against within the black community for her light skin and having a white mother. According to the community, she is not considered “black” due to her parents’ interracial relationship. Considering she is not accepted within the black community, nor is she fully accepted within the white, the halfie feels isolated and has developed biases of her own thus resulting in further division.
While keeping the focus on the halfie, specifically during the sexual encounter with the narrator, she reveals her inferiority complex and low self-esteem, (“the belief that we are less worthy than other people and…don’t deserve attention, love, or any other of life’s rewards” (Tyson, 19)). When kissing the narrator, “[t]he halfie might lean back, breaking from you. She will cross her arms, say, I hate my tits...I don’t like anybody touching my hair...” (Diaz, 405). Revealing these dislikeable characteristics, she exposes her common core issues. These selfcriticisms are born from the discrimination she experiences via intra-racial racism and unhomeliness. These self-doubts reveal the similarities between the narrator and the halfie regarding psychological issues created by America’s postcolonial ideologies.
Aside from the halfie, the narrator’s family represents immigrants’ struggles of collective cultural identity via alienation, unhomeliness, and diaspora (“separa[tion] from their original homeland” (Tyson, 403)). The subtle hint was shown through the “Bermudez your father left in the cabinet, which nobody touches” (Diaz, 404). Bermudez, a rum produced in the Dominican Republic, symbolizes the family’s culture, proudly placed as a memento of the mother country. Simultaneously, the bottle also symbolizes the family’s unhomeliness considering no one touches nor drinks from it because they will not be able to restock. The family holds on to the liquor as a piece of their culture, home, and former life. Feeling the effects of alienation and being foreigners, they want to hold on to one of the few pieces of homeland they were able to retrieve.
When pertaining to consumerism, Howie, the narrator’s Puerto Rican nemesis, certainly represents the “ideology that associates one’s worth with the goods they can buy” (Tyson, 58). The overweight neighborhood bully walks his two large dogs in his “new sneakers, and doesn’t want them muddy” once he reaches the field (Diaz, 404). Howie takes pride in his appearance and wants to keep his new shoes in mint condition, avoiding dirt and sticking to the pavement. These actions not only represent Howie’s big ego, but represent the human vs nature binary that industrialized, cleaner cement walkways are more civilized and used by those in a higher class. Meanwhile, people that walk through a field of mud, dirt, and risk damaging their new sneakers stem from an uncivilized class with a lower sign-exchange value.
Aside from focusing on themselves, the text reveals that characters tend to have many issues amongst each other, specifically when pertaining to gender. One of the broader evaluations is the way the narrator objectifies all the girls which Tyson defines as “treat[ing] women...like objects...without consideration of their own perspectives, feelings, or opinions” (Tyson, 86). The narrator’s main goal is to see how far he can get sexually with a girl via tactics that have been practiced multiple times such as “[i]f the girl’s from around the way, take her to El Cibao for dinner...If she’s not from around the way, Wendy’s will do” (Diaz, 403). Another tactic specifically applying to the halfie and her intra-racial racism trauma is while she’s opening up to “[p]ut down your hamburger and say, It must have been hard,” because “[s]he will appreciate your interest” (404). These manipulative tactics are used only to seduce the girl into some form of sexual contact at the end of the evening. The differentiation between races is only to figure out specific approaches. Regardless of her race, neighborhood, personal issues, or socio-economic status, the girl is something to be conquered. A game that needs to be executed with pre-planned moves.
Alongside objectifying women, there are multiple examples of sexism (“promot[ing] the belief that women are innately inferior to men” (Tyson, 81)) via misogynistic remarks made by male characters. While waiting for the girl to arrive, one of the narrator’s male friends shouts, “Are you still waiting on that bitch?” (Diaz, 403). In another scene, Howie trails behind the couple and asks, “Hey, Yunior, is that your new fuckbuddy?” (404). And lastly, the narrator calls up his buddy while the girl is in the bathroom after partaking in sexual activity and says, “Lo hice, loco,” a term bragging about sexual interactions with a girl (404). Three different men represent the postcolonial American binary of us vs them, placing men on top as authoritative and elite while women are inferior and beneath them. The use of disrespectful, derogatory terms such as bitch and fuckbuddy show that women are considered small and powerless compared to those confident enough to say such things.
One of the more poetic ways the text portrays the sexist man vs woman binary is through the symbolism of Howie’s dogs vs the neighborhood cats. The “two killer mutts...corner themselves a cat and tear it to shreds,” with the “red meat showing through the soft fur” (Diaz, 403-404). Three sentences later, the text states that if the girl isn’t from the neighborhood, “she will hiss now and say, What a fucking asshole,” when referring to Howie (404). The verb “hiss” was intentionally used to represent the girl as the cat overpowered by the two larger, stronger dogs (males). Considering the narrator’s constant comparing of his African hair to the girl’s finer hair, the inclusion of “soft fur” could refer to the girl’s hair. The dogs cornering and attacking the cat is a symbolic representation of how men prey upon women, especially in terms of catcalling.
The way all the male characters think about and act around women represents the female suffrage of double colonization which Tyson defines as “victims of both colonialist ideology, which devalues them because of their race and cultural ancestry, and patriarchal ideology, which devalues them because of their sex” (Tyson, 405). The halfie is a prime example of this double oppression postcolonial women undergo. As discussed earlier, she deals with unhomeliness, antiracial racism, and low self-esteem; simultaneously, she is exposed to the misogynistic culture of sexism and objectification via being referred to as bitch and fuckbuddy. The halfie represents millions of American women experiencing dual persecution for social issues that have been a problem for centuries.
For being a short story, there are dozens of examples revealing societal issues occurring within the land of the “free”. “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz is a story representing postcolonial America as a powerhouse of discrimination, division, and exploitation of its citizens. Americans, whether native or foreign, experience colonialist ideologies surrounding race, class, gender, and socio-economic struggles that create tension within themselves and one another. Diaz’s story unveils the mask of the country’s postimperial rule destroying those residing within.
*This literary analysis did not require a works cited page
*The short story evaluated was Junot Diaz's "How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl or Halfie," and the referenced textbook was Lois Tyson's Critical Theory Today (5th edition, if I remember correctly).
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