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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao Themes

505 Words3 Pages

Aliyah Hudson
HIST 124
Book Response
October 8th, 2017
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a coming-to-age story that explores key themes such as multiculturalism, self-identification, racial stereotypes, and adolescence. Though the novel has an appealing story line, it is important to recognize the intertwining of Dominican culture and American pop culture Diaz embedded in the novel. He mixes the two by creating a doubly marginalized character named Oscar; a nerdy Dominican kid who does not fit in with people of his ethnicity nor those outside it. Since he does not fit the stereotypical Dominican man and also is an immigrant, he faces an internal and external struggle of difficulty finding his place in the world. But even as an outsider, Oscar is still able to demonstrate both his Latin …show more content…

When Oscar was younger, he was what the narrator considered to be a “normal Dominican boy” because he was good with charming women. This part of the novel implies that is it expected of Dominican men to be able pursue women with ease and to also have a number of them. “..“in those days he was a ‘normal’ Dominican boy raised in a ‘typical’ Dominican family, his nascent pimp-liness was encouraged by blood and friends alike” (Diaz 11). As a kid, Oscar did indeed fit this stereotype, being he had two girlfriends at once, but as he grows older he becomes the complete opposite. His development into a nerdy, chubby teen ruins his chance at being a “normal” Dominican man, but the masculine culture still somewhat resides within him. It is the underlying motivating force that subconsciously drives his obsession with finding a woman who loves him back. He does not embody the role of a Dominican man, but he wants to fit the mold. He even at one point tries to work out and upgrade his appearance in hopes of becoming that stereotype, but ultimately

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