Summary Of The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

The scene described on pages 143-152 of Junot Diaz’s The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a horrific one, yet it is essential to the novel due to its power and its effective use of language. In the pages listed, there is are descriptions of La Inca praying for Belicia and the two Elvises beating Belicia to near death. La Inca is able to gather many people together to unite in prayer in hopes of saving Belicia. Even those who were not supportive of her decisions and those who considered her to be a whore. Belicia receives many injuries in the beating she takes and was potentially even raped. Many bones of hers were broken, vital organs damaged, and even her teeth were knocked out. She miraculously does not die from these injuries and is

The mongoose is a miracle to begin with, simply due to the likelihood of an apparition-like mongoose appearing and speaking to anyone is extremely low. However, this mongoose that has been created as a guardian through the power of prayer, has power over Belicia. This mongoose is somewhat Heavenly in its authority as though it is almost God itself. Although Belicia is battered and bruised with many broken ribs, bruised organs, and even a collapsed lung, after the mongoose commands her to walk, she gets up and walks. After saying that Belicia’s legs were trembling beneath her, probably out of weakness, fright, and shock, she is then able to start moving in the direction that the mongoose guides her in. The mongoose is also able to create a great sense of urgency in what it is saying. The power of language can sometimes be derived from its context, and that is part of what is going on. Belicia has just lost the child that she so desperately wanted to keep and now the mongoose has mentioned that it is imperative that she gets up and moves for the sake of her future children. One of the greatest powers of language is to connect with someone emotionally and in this instance the mongoose is able to emotionally connect with her in order to save

When she is sitting in the cane fields at probably one of the most vulnerable points in her life, she is rendered absolutely powerless. Also, there is a great amount of silence in the air at the time. She not only was at a loss for language at that point but she did not experience much noise of any kind at that time. When talking about her injuries, the narrator says, “her clavicle, chicken boned; her right humerus, a triple fracture (she would never again have much strength in that arm); five ribs, broken; left kidney, bruised; liver, bruised; right lung, collapsed,” (147). Belicia has endured some incredible injuries, injuries that would be impressive on their one, let alone in conjunction. It is this large group of injuries, as well as the baby that she just lost due to all of the thrashings she had received, that left her completely vulnerable and utterly powerless. That is why later on in the same paragraph, the narrator says, “All that can be said is that it was the end of language, the end of hope. It was the sort of beating that breaks people, breaks them utterly,” (147). The beating of Belicia not only destroyed her physically, but also it destroyed her mentally. The brutality and savagery of it left her in such a state of weakness that she could not feel hope and she felt as though she could never have much power again. Language is one of Belicia’s most