Oscar Wao Themes

“Men are not indispensable. But Trujillo is irreplaceable. For Trujillo is not a man. His is…a cosmic force…Those who try to compare him to his ordinary contemporaries are mistaken. He belongs to…the category of those born to a special destiny“(5,204).The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a dictatorial novel that demonstrates the effects of the famous dictator, Trujillo. Readers enter into the frightening life of a Dominican family through the darkest areas of a country under dictatorial control of Trujillo. Our narrator even blames John F. Kennedy's assassination on Trujillo. The latter was raping women such as his comrades' wives and their daughters and this sense of violent is considered a masculine definition throughout the novel ; while

Oscar blames fuku for his inability to find true love; although at the end the letter shows us how fuku was overtaken by the power of love. The famous fuku was brought over to the islands of Antilles when the Europeans came, and has stayed ever since. The only known way to counteract a fukú is to use the term “zafa” to ward off the curse. A zafa is something like a good luck charm or a powerful counterspell against evil. Characters lives are overflowing with injustices, violence and love. Sex, masculinity, female sexuality are major themes in the story. Some examples of fuku in the story of the family of Oscar are his struggles to lose his virginity, to lose weight, constant fighting between Beli and Lola(mother and daughter), Beli's bad luck with guy and dating, and Oscar and Beli being near death…One perfect example of the zafa is the mongoose which saves Oscar twice and Beli once; it acts as a sort of guardian angel. "This time Oscar didnt cry when they drove him back to the cane fields. Zafa would be here soon, and the cane had grown well and thick and in places you could hear the stalks clacking against each other like triffids and you could hear kriyol voices lost in the night" (8,320).This quote demonstrates us that now he believed that the mongoose being the zafa will save him with the help of Cliggs, the

Both are portrayed as sexually desirable in the novel; their sexuality is a form of power for them. For Belicia, the power is emphasized by her immense breasts. She realized she could control men with her sexuality. Lola’s legs and hips are the source of her power. :She can reportedly stop traffic when she wears shorts: Lola recognizes her power and uses it for seeking to escape. Love, being the driving force throughout the novel and violence are two big themes. Oscar relishes the beauty of love despite all of the violence. He experiences it when he loves Ybón, and Abelard experiences it when he protects his daughter. Lola has a different experience of love and violence. One example when her mother fakes and cry and then says to Lola "Ya te tengo [I have you now]"(2,70).This action shows cunningest from Belicia and emotions from Lola. The method of parenting can also be considered as both good and bad. If Belicia didn’t treat her daughter like that, she could have become a lazy, good for nothing woman but the steely way that she was brought up made her become more than a man. La Inca repeatedly reminds Beli of her illustrious family history: "Remember, your father was a doctor, a doctor, and your mother was a nurse, a nurse". Faith also plays a great part in the novel; the way that she prays for Lola is worth mentioning in chapter (3,152).The implantation of Spanish