Love In Juniot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

Works of post-modern literature raise questions about life and the human condition. The questions raised by the author not always answered in the text. Juniot Diaz’s novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an example of this. In the novel the motif of love and violence raises the question, “How closely aligned is love or the lack of it to violence or madness?” The author provides no clear answer to this question and the questions helps to emphasize the meaning of the work as a whole. Frank Tebbets once said, “A life without love in it is like a heap of ashes upon a deserted hearth, with the fire dead, the laughter stilled and the light extinguished.” Love is essential for human beings to live a fulfilled and happy life. Love or the

One way which love is aligned with violence is that, when in love characters sometimes blindly put themselves in harm’s way. This is true for Belicia Cabral’s relationship with the “Gangster”. During her teenage years Belicia having blossomed into a beautiful woman Belicia was subject to many advances by older men. Belicia would typically turn down these men, but that was until she met the “Gangster”. The “Gangster”, one of Trujillo’s (the harsh and ruthless dictator of the Dominican Republic at the time) henchmen was the type of man Belicia had been looking for after a failed previous relationship. Blindly in love and unaware that the “Gangster” was married to Trujillo’s sister Belicia embarked on a relationship with the “Gangster”. Belicia then got pregnant with the Gangster’s baby and was commanded to abort the baby by Trujillo’s sister one she found it. Aware of what would happened if she defied a Trujillo, Belicia denied having the abortion and was nearly beaten to death. This is displayed when the author states “I’m also Dionisio’s wife. It has reached my eats that you are telling people that you’re going to marry him and that you’re having his child. Well, I’m here to inform you... that you will be doing neither… They beat her like she was a slave. Like she was a dog… Throughout most of the car ride, and even into the first stanza od that wilding, she maintained the fool’s hope