Oscar Wao

1669 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays about jamaican culture

Life of Oscar Wao: A Reflection of the Past

Being a colored nerd is difficult, but being a Dominican immigrant colored nerd is virtually hopeless. Oscar lives in a world that reflects the history of his country. In Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the use of historical references is important to the book as a whole in order to understand the present day life of Oscar. Although the book is about Oscar, a majority of the novel tells the story of the de León family history and their life according to the fukú curse. For Oscar’s family, being an immigrant was difficult due to how history has affected the family. Living in the Dominican Republic during the time of a horrible dictatorship was not an easy life for Oscar’s mother Belicia. The way that she has been treated and her family has been treated is a reflection of how Oscar’s identity has been shaped. For Oscar, being a Dominican immigrant, lives a life struggle after struggle in order to prove to others how truly Dominican he is despite what others think. While people think he is the complete opposite of a masculine Dominican, Oscar tries to prove them wrong. His struggle to find love and be in a stable relationship also reflects the way his family’s romantic history with the constantly failed relationships. All the mishaps, events, and unavoidable conflicts in Oscar’s life are a direct representation of the history of his family’s past. The cultural, political, and family history explains the similarities between the past and present that ultimately leads Oscar to his inevitable fate.
The story of Oscar revolves heavily around the family’s curse and how everyone occupying in the Caribbean lived with a curse. One of the roles of history in the book is...

... middle of paper ...

...life when he finally decides to go after the woman of his dreams, despite the consequences. In the story, history tends to really repeat itself for Oscar. What happened to Oscar related closely to what happened to Belicia in the past, from getting into unhealthy relationships to getting beat in cane fields due to those relationships. The role of history tends to act as a vehicle to foreshadow the events in Oscar’s life in the future. If history had not happened the way it did, with Trujillo’s spread of terror, Oscar and Lola would not have had a life in New Jersey to escape the evil. If Oscar never left the Dominican Republic, his fragile self-esteem would have been in a worse situation than how it was now. Although his family had a chance to escape to New Jersey, Oscar’s attempt to escape was not successful because his life ended right back where it started.

Show More
Related

  • Racism In Huck Finn

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    This book addresses the issue of race all throughout the story, which is while it is probably the most discussed aspects of it. The books presentation is very complex in many ways. There is no clear-cut stance on race but the book uses racist language. The racist language durin...

    Read More

  • Struggles of a Dominican American Family

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Junot Diaz is Dominican American, and he came from a very poor family with five other siblings. Since they were not that wealthy, they lived in a simple way. Even though his mother was basically the bread winner of the family since his father could not keep a job, she still manages to send money back home every six months or so. When they got home from their vacation, they had found out that someone has broken into their house and stole most of his mother’s money. It was easy for them to be a target because they were recent immigrant, and in their neighborhood cars and apartment were always getting jacked. His mother was very upset; she blamed her children, because she thought it was their friends who had done such a thing. “We kids knew where

    Read More

  • Theme Of The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    We may believe were not in no form of isolation from a single thing but we are all in isolation without notice. In the book “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar wao” by Junot Diaz, he shows isolation in every character in a very distinct way but still not noticeable. Throughout the Brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao, Diaz conveys that there is isolation in every person through his characters that are all different in personalization but are still isolated from something.

    Read More

  • Junot Diaz's The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print. The. Raboteau, Emily.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

    2349 Words  | 5 Pages

    Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality

    Read More

  • Prejudice Explored in "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this book, the lives of two wealthy American citizens and two illegal immigrants collide. Delaney and Kyra were whites living in a pleasurable home, with the constant worry that Mexicans would disturb their peaceful, gated community. Candido and America, on the other hand, came to America to seek job opportunities and a home but ended up camping in a canyon, struggling even for the cheapest form of life. They were prevented from any kind of opportunities because they were Mexicans. The differences between the skin colors of these two couples created the huge gap between the two races.

    Read More

  • Documentary: Which Way Home

    1239 Words  | 3 Pages

    The emotional letter that Juan left for his mother might be one of the most emotional scenes in the documentary. The pure emotions that the letter was written by Juan to her mother leaves the audience with the bonds and emotions felt between the kids and families. Juan Carlos’s father abandoned the family years ago and left to New York, consequently Juan believe it is his responsibility to provide for his family. He also wants to find his father in New York and confronts him about why he has forgotten about them. The story of Juan is not just about migration of children, but also the issue of family separation. The documentary does not dehumanize but rather bring the humane and sensitive lens to the story of Juan where the human drama that these young immigrants and their families live. Juan Carlos is not the first of Esmeralda’s sons to leave for the United states, his nine-year-old brother Francisco was smuggled into California one month earlier. Francisco now lives with Gloria, his grandmother, who paid a smuggler $3,500 to bring him to Los Angeles, California. Once Juan Carlos is in the shelter for child migrants his mother eagerly awaits him outside. After she sees him she signs a paper that says if Juan Carlos tries to travel again, he will be sent to a foster home.

    Read More

  • The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao By Junot Diaz

    1084 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel ‘The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’, by Junot Diaz gives a very entertaining insight towards many social dynamics that are relevant to Dominican culture, and it fits very well within the scope of the course; and, although it is a work of fiction, this novel is set in New Jersey, and deals specifically with the Dominican Republic experience under the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. From what I’ve learned after reading the first half of this book, there is certainly a lot that can be discussed. Thankfully the book’s versatile portrayal of vivid topics that are seldom discussed shine light upon these many issues that face such an overlooked culture, especially for the American audience.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Mother-Daughter Relationships In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    The relationships between mothers and daughters is a topic that authors often call upon to tell a story. It is an important part of every culture, which makes the topic relatable to any reader who picks the book up. Junot Diaz understood the universality of mother/daughter relationships and incorporated it in his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Although the book is mainly about Oscar, an overweight Dominican boy from New Jersey and his quest for love, the book also spends a lot of time exploring the relationships between Oscar’s sister Lola and their mother Beli and Beli’s relationship with her mother figure La Inca. Junot Diaz does not write mother/daughter relationships in an honest way and focuses on the conflict in the relationships

    Read More

  • Yunior’s Journey of Maturation in Junot Díaz’s Drown

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    Junot Díaz’s Drown, a collection of short stories, chronicles the events of Yunior and his family. Each story focuses Yunior and his struggle growing up as a Dominican immigrant and finding a place for himself within American society. Throughout the progression of the novel, Yunior realizes the stereotypes placed on him and recognizes that being white is advantageous. Yunior’s experience growing up both in the Dominican Republic and the States has shaped his perspective on life and life choices.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Masculinity In Fiesta 1980 By Junot Diaz

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    Junot Diaz is a Dominican-American writer whose collection of short stories Drown tells the story of immigrant families in the urban community of New Jersey. His short story “Fiesta, 1980” focuses on Yunior, an adolescent boy from Dominican Republic and his relationship with his father. On the other hand, Piri Thomas was a great Latino writer from Puerto-Rico whose memoir Down These Mean Streets tells his life story as an adolescent residing in Harlem and the challenges he faces outside in the neighborhood and at home with his father. Both Diaz and Thomas in different ways explore the dynamics of father-son relationships in their work. Furthermore, both expose masculinity as a social construct.

    Read More

  • Oscar Wao is the Zafa to the Fuku

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... the box contained a letter from Oscar to Lola about a vacation he and Ybón were able to take. The vacation was a weekend spent at the beach from the knowledge of el capitán. For the first time Oscar had sex! He had finally felt the feeling of somebody actually loving him. Oscar wrote, “It was the little intimacies that he’d never in his whole life anticipated”(Díaz). The climax of Oscar’s life! Oscar ends his letter saying, “If only I’d known. The beauty! The beauty!”(Diaz). Oscar stopped the curse with this letter. Not only did Oscar give Lola reassurance that he didn’t die completely dreadful, but having the Fuku curse on you would never let you die with your only lifes goal accomplished. I believe this quote from Díaz exemplifies Oscars story in way which defines Oscar as the Zafa. “Success, after all, loves a witness, but failure can't exist without one”(Diaz.)

    Read More

  • The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

    1104 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, he is telling the story of a Dominican family but mainly about the son, Oscar de Leon. The book opens with the story of Oscar as a child and him having two girlfriends at the same time. The older people in town see him as a ladies man and encourage him. The boy and the two girls all break up and his life seemed to be on a steady decline since then. He grows up to become a nerdy, fat, and awkward adolescence with few friends and even less interest from girls. This phase persists throughout his life and he never develops out of the nerdy boy he was as a child. The Dominican Republic was a hostile and poor place during the time of the novel. The dictator Trujillo controls the lives of the people in the country. This influenced the de Leon family’s present and future. Diaz develops the story by using the superstition, the cane field, and male dominance of the Dominican men

    Read More

  • Atonement Literary Elements

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    This leads to the other major theme of discrimination between social classes. Though Robbie has been exceptionally well-treated and well educated, neither he nor the family members could ever completely forget that he is the” gardener", and that all he eve...

    Read More

  • Theme Of Resistance In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    Resistance Throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, set in the late 1900’s, tells the story of Oscar Wao, an overweight Dominican “ghetto nerd”, his mother and rebellious sister who live together in Paterson, New Jersey. Throughout the novel, Diaz incorporates many different stories about each character that show acts of resistance. One of the most prominent stories of resistance in the novel is through Oscar’s mom Beli, who is prompted by a great tragedy, known as the Trujillo curse, to love atomically and thus follow a dangerous path.

    Read More

More about Oscar Wao

Open Document