Why The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

In Junot Diaz’s novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Oscar is a Dominican boy who grows up in Paterson, New Jersey. Oscar begins his youth as a social butterfly, having not one, but two girlfriends at the same time. He breaks up with one of them to be with the prettier one and ends up on the receiving end of a breakup only about a week later. Oscar eventually grows up to love comic books, science fiction, and nerd culture. These geeky inclinations as well as Oscar’s social awkwardness that develops over time cause him to seem lame even to the two other nerdiest kids in his school. Some of these things that Oscar grew to love like comic books and such were introduced to him because he grew up in the culture he did. Pauline Hopkins once

Had he not grown up in America, Oscar probably would not have discovered his love for either of these. Comic books and other nerdy things branch across a great amount of American culture; however, things like comic books and nerd culture were not very popular in other countries until much more recently. So, had Oscar grown up in the Dominican Republic, he probably would have never gotten into comics. He also has the United States to thank simply for his love for reading. Had he grown up in the Dominican, he could have never discovered his love for reading. That is because during the reign of the all-powerful Trujillo, scholarly activity and thinking at any level were not encouraged very much, so reading was scarce. Oscar has his American heritage to thank for his love for comic books and his love for

The final line of that segment of dialogue is the most important part of it because of the sigh and the worry that come with Yunior’s suggestion that no true dominicano can die without having sex. Oscar does not believe in himself and feels as though he will never fit into his culture. Oscar’s failure to fit into the role of the Dominican male which surrounds him in life is one of the largest causes of his depression. Also, if American culture is to be thanked for his nerdiness, it can probably be thanked for his inability to find his role in Dominican society. So, the piece of culture that he has grown to love so much in comic books has also led to his disobeyal of Dominican cultural norms. When Yunior is describing Oscar’s suicide attempt, he says “From what he would later recall, he stood on that bridge for a good long time. Watching the streaking lights of the traffic below. Reviewing his miserable life. Wishing he’d been born in a different body,” (190). It is notable that one of Oscar’s biggest regrets in life is the body he was born into, or possibly the state that his body has reached. He is extremely overweight which for the most part is due to his largely sedentary lifestyle. This brings things back again to the point that Oscar is disappointed in himself for not fitting in because he has pursued his other passions and