“O it’s against the laws of nature for a Dominicano to die without fucking at least once,” (174) said Yunior, during a night in his college dorm room with Oscar Woa. These two characters are from a book titled “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa” a story about Oscar trying to find real love for the first and the journey his friends and his family go through during this time. In this book there is a reappearing theme that continues to show itself, that theme is Dominican masculinity. Dominican masculinity is described as a manly man who can pull women and that also has this certain type of mojo that defines their personality. The only things is that this certain masculinity rather than representing a healthy self-esteem and sense of power, Dominican masculinity represents a cocky kind of self-destructive personality that seems to emotionally stunt the men characters. Most of the male characters seem to have this certain masculinity, except our protagonist Oscar.
Each character in this novel all seem to have at least one chapter in the story told from their point of view. One of these characters is named Yunior. Yunior could have been a poster child of Dominican masculinity. He was a very good-looking masculine man due to the fact he lifts weights often, he had a lot of friends, and was very popular. He also had a very large ego due to the fact that he is a womanizer, but because he was a womanizer he could never seem to hold onto a girlfriend, because each time they always found out he was cheating. Which caused Yunior to be a little emotional damaged since some of these women he grew strong feelings for. But secretly Yunior is a slight nerd, yet that’s all it ever is, a secret. Even though Yunior is a perfect example of Dominic...
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...rom the world. But all he wanted to do was try and fit in and fall in love. He thought that all Dominican males had this type of mojo that made them stand out among others; all Oscar wanted to do was be a masculine Dominican male and in his search for this type of masculinity his life was ended short. Dominican masculinity instead of representing a sense of power and masculinity, it represents a self-destructive personality that backfires. All Oscar wanted was to have this masculinity but he nearly kills himself once he gives up his search for it. Yet Yunior can’t have a healthy relationship and it affects him. I think Dominican masculinity in the book “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” represents something that can never really be achieved, and if achieved will not make you happy. But instead be happy for what you are and for what you have to offer the world.
Upon returning to the Dominican Republic after many years, Yolanda decides to take a trip across the island––something her family views as ridiculous. “‘This is not the states’ . . . ‘A woman just doesn’t travel alone in this country.” (9) This quote highlights the sexism inherent in Dominican society. Yolanda’s family is asserting that women are not individuals capable of taking care of themselves. On another hand, Yolanda’s close friendship with Mundín causes tensions as their mothers confront them about crossing gender lines. “My mother disapproved. The outfit would only encourage my playing with Mundín and the boy cousins. It was high time I got over my tomboy phase and started acting like a young lady señorita. ‘But it is for girls,’ . . . ‘boys don’t wear skirts.’” (228) This is an example of how Dominican societal norms and gender roles have impacted the sisters. Yolanda and Mundín were the only boy-girl playmates out of all the García children, yet this was frowned upon by both of their parents as to not impede the seemingly inevitable growth of Yolanda’s femininity, and conversely, Mundín’s masculinity. Moreover, this shows how societally-prescribed gender roles were instilled in Yolanda at a young age. However, this is not the only way in which women’s freedoms are
WEESR, KHATHERINE. “Tu no Eres Nada de Dominicano”: Unnatural Narration and De-Naturalizing Gender Consruction in Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. “Journal Of Men’s Studies 22, no.2 (Spring2014 2014): 89-104. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 30,
Just like Yunior, Piri who is the first child of his family also has a tense relationship with his father. He too wonders why his father treats him differently from his other siblings. He feels targeted which can be seen when an incident occurs and Poppa beats Piri for knocking down the coffee machine even though it was his brother Jose who pushed it; and Piri was only trying to prevent it from falling. Piri also practices masculinity in order to mask his true feelings. This is observed in his change of character when he is with his friends and when is alone with his thoughts. Piri describes hanging on the block as a “sort of science” which requires him to put on mask of masculinity in order to be approved and respected in el Barrio. One of the ways he does this is to brag about his sexual encounters and prove to his friends that he is a “ladies
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.
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
Diaz uses the characterization of Yunior to show that he may not he's isolated himself from loyalty and having good relationships with people as well. Yunior is a character portrayed as a true dominican male because he is good with women. In chapter 6 on page 269 Yunior got lola
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
to disconnect from each other and their cultural values. Yunior, the narrator, explains how he and his family were immigrants from the Dominican Republic. The lived in New Jersey and were invited to a party in the Bronx in New York City. The father creates disconnection in the family because of his strong connection to his cultural values. His culture taught him to be patriarchal, promiscuous, and authoritative. These qualities, in excessive use, destroyed his family furthermore Yuniors childhood.
To say that many countries in Latin-American and in Europe are machistas is not a surprise for anyone. People who have born in Spain or in Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela grew in a society with fewer rights for women than men. The word machismo means "arrogant attitude of men towards women". This occurs in every single moment in our lives from our born to our death. But, at this moment I want to analyze the machismo in three areas: family, school and work.
Yunior struggles with his exposure to male privilege in a Dominican family, as he is very sensitive. Yunior can not fully comprehend why men took actions that women didn’t attempt to do. For example, Papi made all the decisions in the family. “She and tío Miguel got themselves an apartment in the Bronx, off Grand Concourse and everybody decided that we should have a party. Actually, my pops decided...” (306). Papi decided that a party was obligatory to be thrown for their arrival, but not as his expense or home; Tia and Tío hosted it, despite it being Papi’s decision. Male privilege is shown in the way “the women laid out the food and like always nobody but the kids thanked them. It must be some Dominican tradition or something” (312). Instead of having both men and women lay the food, it is only the women’s job. Helping with the preparations is not their responsibility, nor is showing appreciation with a genuine thank you. Junot Diaz gives a personal example on his family in his
Yunior struggles with personal acceptance, due to his father not completely accepting him. Papi struggles with being the head of a lower class family. Both of their personal conflicts with themselves and their conflicts with each other set the theme of “Fiesta, 1980.” Junot Diaz depicted a scenario a plethora of individuals know all too well. Both Yunior and Papi love each other, both have strange ways of showing it. The conflict of Man vs. man within this story shows that no matter the age, an internal struggle can greatly affect the people around you.
The short story “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, and Halfie” by Junot Diaz is the main character, Yunior’s, guide to dating girls of different races and the ways to act in order to get what you want from them. The only thing Yunior seems to want for these girls is sexual acts. This short story argues that a person’s heritage, economic class, and race affect how a person identifies themselves, and how their identity affects how they act towards other people. The pressures a person may feel from society also has an effect on how a person treats themselves and others. The pressure and expectations from society are also what makes Yunior think he needs to have sex with these girls. There are many different occasions of the main character talking and acting differently to other people within the story, such as: to himself, his friends, and the different girls he tries to date.
Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, set in the late 1900’s, tells a 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 great tragedy, known as the Trujillo curse, to love atomically and thus follow a dangerous path. Beli’s family history plays a large role in her choices that eventually compel her into a different life than what her adopted mother, La Inca, had wanted
A reoccurring them in the novel of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is sex which is viewed as a rite of passage. Sex is extremely apparent in the book which shows the importance it has within the Dominican culture. According to the narrator Yunior, sex is tremendously engrained in the Dominican culture so much that accordingly to legend “No Dominican has died a virgin” (??). Since sex is culturally embedded into their lives, Oscar is considered an outcast compared to the more
...s important both symbolically and literally within the novel. Since manhood and masculine features are so heavily valued within this society, the challenge of one’s personality or actions can completely change them and push them to drastic measures.