The Superior Ysrael

In the short story "Ysrael" by Junot Díaz, I think that the boys in the Dominican Republic bully Ysrael because he is simply better than them and they can't stand it.  That is, apart from the physical appearance of his face.  The seize on his mutilated face and mock him for it, despite his superiority in nearly every other way.  They all admit that he by far a better runner than they are.  For example, on page seven, Yunior  describes his first encounter with Ysrael.

He picked up the bundle and ran down the alley.  Some other boys saw him an wheeled around, howling but, coño, could he run.

It is obvious that the boys, or Yunior at least, have a certain amount of respect for Ysrael's physical prowess.  Díaz also makes us respect him as readers for his strength and perseverance in his training in the second story focused on him, "No Face."

He goes to the guanábana tree and does his pull-ups, nearly fifty now, and then picks up the café dehuller and holds it to his chest for a forty count.  His arms, chest, and neck bulge and the skin around his temple grows tight, about to split.  But no! He's unbeatable and drops the dehuller with a fat Yes. (153)

I found this passage to be very impressive and it certianly made me impressed by Ysrael's commitment to his training.  However, is this training self-imposed, or is it forced on him by the rest of the people of the island who are constantly fighting against him?  I think that it was forced on him as it was necessary for his survival, but then he grew proud of his strength and now strives to better himself in that regard.

When Rafa and Yunior find him towards the end of the first story, Yunior asks if Ysrael is still interested in wrestling.  Ysrael says that yes he is.  This seems to make Rafa uncomfortable as he does not want to actually wrestle Ysrael but also does not want to lose face.  He instead finds a way out of a fight, saying "You wanna try it pendejo?"  Here, Rafa is relying on the fact that Ysrael is tired of fighting everyone he meets and would rather back down than wrestle Rafa.  The first time I read this story, before I read "No Face," I did not realize this subtlety since I thought that Rafa really was the stronger wrestler.  However, in the second story it is made clear that Ysrael would have won, since he beat four boys at once who jumped him.  This means that Rafa must have know he could not possibly win a fair fight with Ysrael.  Therefore, he takes after the rest of the bullies in that country and starts an unfair one.  Rafa suddenly smashes a bottle on Ysrael's head and Ysrael falls.  Despite his superiority, he is still defeated by Rafa who can't stand the fact that the disfigured Ysrael is superior to him, and uses trickery to make himself feel better.