The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

On analyzing a symbol as a literary convention used by author, Junot Díaz makes a way to identify the purpose of the device. In his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), the mechanism is used to develop a specific character and point of view. The symbol is a sensory image that holds rich implication that holds either a narrow or broad connotation. However, on occasion the reader is cast off by the author with an unknown meaning of the symbol and is forced to create his own interpretation. The latter principle is intentionally carried out by the author as a literary hook to draw the attention of his audience to keep reading. Moreover, in combination with the symbol is the calculated method by the author of his utilization of pathos as a way of arousing the emotions of his readership. Consequently, the author effectively brings into existence an impetus by which the reader will be controlled. The use of a symbol as a literary convention in a novel creates a hidden significance. A literary convention, a symbol of faceless men, is used by Dominican-American writer, Junot Díaz to give significance and shape to his novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Díaz uses this symbol a few times throughout his novel to bestow more depth to his storytelling. The symbol of faceless men is found in the following scenes:

They had guns! He stared into the night, hoping that maybe there would be some U.S. Marines out for a stroll, but there was only a lone man sitting in his rocking chair out in front of his ruined house and for a moment Oscar could have sworn the dude has no face, but then the killers got back into the car and drove (Diaz 298).

Dejame, she screamed, and when she looked up she saw that there was on...

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...this example because staff can suggest more than a snake to Freud” (www.freudfile.org). Moreover, as defined by Freud, “A symbol is sensorial and concrete in itself, although the idea(s) it represents may be relatively abstract and complex. A symbol has multiple ideas and some resemblance to what it is supposed to represent, which in most cases is an unacknowledged idea or one the individual is not conscious of” (www.freudfile.org). Additionally, in Freud elaborated that, “Symbols may have very narrow or quite wide ranges of denotation. The range may be limited to an individual, or perhaps to a small group. People other than the individual or group will not understand that meaning of the symbol. A symbol's range may be cultural, meaning that it is known by members of cultural groups: ethnic groups, religious groups, national groups, and so on” (www.freudfile.org).