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Summary Of The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

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Yunior, the narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is portrayed as a “true Dominican male”. Oscar seems to be the antithesis of that, being characterized as the “GhettoNerd at the End of the World”, but the two boys aren’t as far apart as one might think upon first read. Díaz does a fantastic job in characterizing the people in this book, and how they tie into both the Trujillo regime and the fukú of the de Leon/Cabral families. Through symbolism in superheroes, characterization in pop culture references, and historical and political ties, Junot Díaz demonstrates both the similarities between Oscar and Yunior, how Yunior is a tour guide through a long-forgotten history, and how love is the driving force of it all. Throughout the …show more content…

Yunior has many apprehensions towards Oscar’s comic books, but is he trying to change his best friend to be more like him? Yunior is the Dominican man that can have any girl he wants, and points out that he can bench press 340 pounds. It’s reasonable to believe that Oscar wants to become that person, because he asks Yunior for help. Hence, the Oscar Redemption Program. It’s also reasonable to believe that he doesn’t believe that he could be a standard Dominican lady-killer, because his stint in the boot camp lasts only days. Our boy Oscar comes off as a very sensitive nerdy guy, and while he wants love and sex, he may not be okay with treating women the way that he was treated growing up. Yunior sees this, but no matter what, he can’t stop treating women that way. Oscar may want to be like Yunior because he gets all the ladies, but Yunior may want to be like Oscar because he has a heart of gold. Those comic books and science fiction novels that Diaz alludes to in nearly every chapter point to a parallel between Oscar and Yunior, and how alike they truly are. The word ‘parigüayo’, or ‘party-watcher’, is a derogatory word meaning “someone who fits the stereotype of a loser, and lacks the game to get a date”. It is used in the novel as a derogatory name for Oscar, …show more content…

It’s said that Christopher Columbus began the long chain of Dominican fukú. It remained dormant in the families of the Dominican Republic until Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, who both represent and embody the spirit of fukú, rose to power in 1930. Trujillo became someone that people can blame their bad luck on. If Trujillo hadn’t been so evil, the people of the Dominican Republic would have remained faithful to the notion that their so-called ‘fukú’ is really just their own bad luck. Yunior acknowledges the blatantly covered up history because The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the firsthand account of Trujillo’s regime, aimed at those “who missed their mandatory two seconds of Dominican history”. Trujillo built a wall around the Dominican Republic, the so-called “Plátano Curtain”, which separated the country from its neighbor, Haiti, “that exists beyond maps, that is carved directly into the histories and imaginaries of the people” (Díaz 224-225). Try as he might, the truth of living in the Dominican Republic of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated, is that the regime is responsible for terror, deceit, lies, murder, and misery. This novel serves as Yunior’s own personal zafa, the countercurse to the fukú

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As in can be very distracted by women he has a crush on, he is at most a lover not a heart breaker like Yunior. Yunior is a Dominican-Republican American immigrant who is traditionally masculine; yet, he is too bigheaded with is ego to see that he is not that different from Oscar, as

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Oscar is a passionate individual who is not afraid to show his emotions regardless of what his family and friends tell him. Oscar does not fall into the traditional Dominican male role. He is a virgin, nerd and a sensitive boy that cannot achieve one date with any

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I think is really ironic how much damage Trujillo did to the Dominicans but they still follow his legacy that he left behind, for example machismo and racism. Machismo plays a big role on this novel because it sets the trend to everyone on what it takes to be a true Dominican man. Oscar constantly gets told that he’s not a true Dominican “Probably the only thing you could ain’t eaten, right? Harold would say, Tu no eres nada de dominicano, but Oscar would insist unhappily, I am Dominican, I am. It didn’t matter what he said” (Junot p. 180).

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In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz successfully links Dominican history during the reign of Trujillo directly to the characters' past, present, and future. Using narrative and literary elements, such as the symbol of Blank Page, Díaz argues that it is necessary for one to record history and understand it in order to become a more serene individual. The symbol of blank page emphasizes the effect of the blankness or emptiness of the past which creates a void of understanding in making correct decisions. He presents this theme by describing each character's point of view and struggles- in which many could have been avoided if they had known the mistakes of the hidden past. His use of narrative structure addresses each unique yet similar conflict of the intertwined past and present that had affected all three generations.

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Diaz has overcompensated the trait of masculinity when it comes to Yunior. Yunior has been involved with many women in his life however; he has chewed and spit the women up like a piece of gum. Yunior is not afraid of commitment; he simply has never been taught how to treat women the proper way. His family checked out and his only understanding of love and relationships is based off his father’s infidelity and his brother’s insensibility towards women. The men in his life have shown a high level of masculinity and have furthermore abused Yunior.

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