Gender and identity are both things that uniquely shape a person. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz tackles the uniqueness of gender and its expectations; furthermore, how gender expectations shape identity and the course of actions people take. For Oscar, his persistent journey for a woman’s touch to be considered a man; Yunior, his masculine act to hide his deepened trauma and real emotions; and Lola, who’s femininity almost always leads to her own disarray or discard of her character. All of this culminates in the message in Oscar Wao on how gender expectations not only shape identity but influence the course of actions to secure an identity. To illustrate, one example of gender expectations influence on identity is Oscar. …show more content…
Oscar’s own identity and actions were set on the idea that he had no relation to manhood- which made him believe in his own allergies to women; however, Oscar’s own ignorance to leave women over fear of losing the chance he could get to be manly had caused his own death. Similarly, Yunior's own relationship with manhood is to be secure with his identity. Through the book, we hear the story via Yunior’s narrating of a third person perspective on Oscar’s life; however, rarely ever does he go on an analysis on himself. Constantly, Yunior is critical of the De Leons and their life choices, while for himself all he does is make sexist remarks. Junior manhood is related to these remarks and how his masculinity protects a layer of himself plus his past. Even so, Yunior has stated how he is heartless, either via his actions towards Lola or via his unloved past: “A heart like mine, which never got any kind of affection growing up, is terrible above all things” (Diaz 185). Yunior's unreliability and openness to his past compared to his showing of masculinity illustrates the barrier his masculinity provides toward his own