The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a book filled with hardship and struggle. It tells the story of a family from the Dominican Republic, who constantly had difficult things happen to them. They were put through hell and back, and it did not stop until the end of the book. These awful things were claimed to be caused by Fuku. Fuku is a curse that is countered by Zafa. These two themes are very prominent in the book. As well as the main characters struggle to find out who they really are, and where they came from. In the novel, the main character Oscar struggles with self-worth and self-esteem. He is constantly tormented by the women he falls in love with and the fact that nothing seems to go his way. The history of his family plays a big role in his life. His mother, Beli, was supposed to have a lavish life, but her life spiraled out of control when her family died. Beli’s suffering seems to be correlated with the awful dictator at the time. This burden seems to be placed on Oscar from the time he was born. You can see that Oscar tries to discover his family’s history throughout the novel. He looks at photo albums from his grandmother, and learns about what his mother went through. Yet he does not let the history of his family weigh him down. …show more content…
He knows it too. Even from the first time he tried to jump off a bridge, he thought it was the Fuku in his head. All leading up to his death, it was the Fuku that got him. Oscar was always hopeful. Even in the end, when he was in the taxi on the way to his death, they author writes “They drove past a bus stop and for a second Oscar imagined he saw his whole family getting on a guaga, even his poor dead abuelo, and who is driving the bus but the Mongoose, and who is the cobrador but he Man Without Face, but it was nothing but a final fantasy.” I believe this truly shows that Zafa could not have been the more dominant force in Oscars life. He was very hopeful, but was always saturated with
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.
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
From the seemingly shallow, stereotypical woes of virginal Oscar Wao caught in an explicit and brutally violent society, to the harrowing journey of Yakov Bok that pushes him into a misplaced slot of fixing the falling state of Tsarist Russia, to Equality 7-2521: tall, beautiful, and the opposite of conformity and equality; one would say that they all seem to differentiate substantially not in only in journey, but in personality. However, all have one thing in common… they all encompass traits of the archetypal Emersonian genius; they individually and collectively, fulfill the following Emersonian thought, in one way or another,”To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, — that
...ing identity to the point where it no longer exists. This identity can be lost through extreme devotion, new experience, and immense tragedy. Relationships with the most meaningful companions impact both main characters, Elie and Frederic. Due to the events they must encounter alongside loved ones, Elie and Frederic change completely, losing the identity that once existed. The most impactful events of any life are those that involve struggle and tragedy. Any tragic event that one encounters can significantly alter the purpose of life forever. Tragic events such as taking away what one may hold dearest, such as a loved one in the cases of Elie and Frederic. This type of loss can create a saddened, purposeless life in all humans.
Later on in this novel, Oscar meets another woman who greatly impacts his life. Her name is Ybon, and she is a middle-aged prostitute. Yet again, Oscar becomes friends with her and he opens himself up to her. Surprisingly she does the same as Oscar notes that she does not open up very often or to very many. They become very close, almost to the point that they are dating, and Oscar finds himself in love with her. But then, she reveals that she has a boyfriend, who is a police captain, referred to as the Capitan. Warning signs show up to Oscar, but he pays no attention to them because he is so in love. Violence shows up soon after when the Capitan’s cronies beat Oscar to within an inch to his life. He is unconscious for three days after this, but once he awakens he immediately thinks of Ybon. After he recovers, he travels back to Santa Domingo to try to find her. He succeeds and then learns that the Capitan has been beating Ybon and has threatened to kill her if she has any contact with Oscar again. Following his nature, Oscar does not give up on his love and follows Ybon around. She desperately tries to get him to go away, but she appears to be at least partly in love with him also. However, the Capitan catches sight of him and sends his thugs after Oscar one last time. This time they give him a beating that takes his life. So Oscar finds love, but it ultimately ends with it taking his life
When Oscar falls in love, it seems that he falls in love with every girl he sees, mainly because he does not want to be a virgin anymore and that they are his way out of feeling miserable about his life. In the book, there is passage in which Oscar describes how he felt about Ana to his sister and that he’s never felt that way before. Moreover, in the passage the words, “this was clearly on his mind,” appear inside hyphens. This reveals that one of the reasons for why he latched on to Ana was because he did not get many chances at meeting any girls. Even if Ana did not feel the same way about him, he had hope that they will end up together. That is why he In addition, when Oscar said, “I thought this is never going to happen to me,” some words are italicized and this emphasizes how much Oscar really believes that a girl is the solutions to his problems. Another instance that reveals how he much he desperately wants a girls, is when he meets La Jablesse. He even started to finally exercise for her but after it did not work out, he fell into the same depression again. Lastly, everyone around Oscar is constantly asking him to change or they question his masculinity. Chasing after girls, is Oscar’s way of trying to fit norms of the Dominican man because he is constantly judged for not having a girl
Family became an important aspect in Mah’s life. In the Chinese culture family is typically a vital part of the way of life. Mah may have been ashamed the way her first marriage ended and did not want the same with this man she met named Leon. Leon is a Chinese immigrant and family is his priority. Mah and Leon marry and have two girls, Ona and Nina. They form a family like connection more than ever before. Leon was a fairly stable man and loved his family. Mah and Leon were b...
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
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.
tragic and to show what it’s like to be part of the Cultural Revolution. For example, Ji-li tried out for the audition and succeeded, but her grandparents denied about this situation because they have seen the past. This shows the diversity between now and back then. Ji-li’s grandparents did this to make sure Ji-li doesn't want to end up as the people in the past. For their grandparents time period can be very stressful whenever the Cultural Revolution starts. Ji-li’s inspiration can be very thoughtful and curious to figure out what it likes to be going back to the Cultural Revolution. Ji-li’s grandparents has a big effect and plays a huge role on the Cultural Revolution
Before the accident Alice’s family wasn’t rich, but they were making it ends meet with a little extra. After the accident they had to be placed on welfare just to eat at night. Alice remembers going to bed many nights hungry and also the teasing she received at school for being so skinny. Just to make this whole ordeal Alice’s siblings were split between each other and aunts and uncles. She went from having a big happy family who was making it to just having her sister to help take care of her mother who was never the same after the accident. Alice says growing up without a father has had many influences in my life. I never had someone to make sure I was treated right by boys. Alice felt this was a big reason why she got pregnant before she was married and also why her husband never treated her like a husband should. Alice felt as if she had grown up with a father she would have finished high school and would have gone on to have healthier relationships with men. This was probably the biggest shaper in Alice’s life even though it shaped her in a negative way she will never be the same
The term “beauty” in the story does not stands for physical appearance, but it stands for inner beauty. Alice states the fact that beauty must be achieved by ignoring others. When Alice was eight year old she got in an incident with her brother that took away her right eye’s sight. When she went to school, she got bullied by the students in school because of the scar on her eye.Therefore, she begins losing confident and failing her classes. Knowing that Alice got bullied in class, her parent decided to send her back to her old community for her own benefit; however, what does an eight years old girl could think of her parent behavior?She feels as a flaw in the eyes of her parents because of the accident and never thought that it for he own benefit. Alice life perspective changed from positive to negative after the incident with her brother and the behavior of her parents.
Not only does class differences play a major role in the gap between the rich and the poor, it also plays a big role in the parent 's itself: the hope of their children becoming a finer person. Because lower class parents were not able to fulfill their dreams, they carried on their dreams through their children. This can carry a positive influence, but also negative at the same time. In the movie, Rancho friend’s Raju attempts to commit suicide because of the expectation from his family to be the top student in his class and be successful like everyone else, so he could pay his family bills and the dowry of his sister and the fear of failure. Since he was not fully capable yet at that time, he has foreseen what his parents might do or how the society might say about him when he goes back. The movie portrays how in contrast to parents expectation, parents don’t think about their child mental and physical ability or they wouldn 't let them pursue what they wanted to do in life, but instead forced them to pursue the goal that they had planned for them. Because parents often does not understand fully about their children 's potential and or their struggles, it could lead to their children being lost focus on what their parents want to do and eventually losing hope of achieving the American Dream. Furthermore, it can also stop them from having the upward
As previously stated, the end of the film shows Oscar with a new, more virtuous life that is more suited to his eudaimon. In order to stay on this path, Oscar will have ...
The death of Oscar and his mother Beli marked a new beginning: Yunior tries to face his own issues and focus on his own emotional baggage by building a family, working as a teacher, and similar to Oscar, writing as an emotional outlet; Lola has a lovely family and a young daughter named Isis, the fourth generation of the de Leon’s family. Isis is expected to be the one who puts an end to the curse fuku, “I’ll take her down to my basement and open the four refrigerators where I store her tio’s books, his games, his manuscripts, his comic books, his papers...And maybe, just maybe, if she’s as smart and as brave as I’m expecting she’ll be, she’ll take all we’ve done and all we’ve learned and add her own insights and she’ll put an end to it [the fukú]. That is what, on my best days, I hope. What I dream” (Diaz 330-331). The collection of Oscar’s work are evidence and documentations for Oscar’s life, simultaneously offers the knowledge to fight against the curse. Yunior hopes that Isis will come to visit him some day and that he will be able to share the history of her family with her, thus she can add her insights and become aware of the curse. It resolves the tension between the characters as they hope for a new start. The ultimate purpose for constructing the narrative is for Isis to overcome the curse and for literal readers to take actions against the various forms of oppression in the narrative. These goals, however, are Yunior’s desire, not the actuality. Later on, the quote from Watchmen suggests that “nothing ever ends”, a paradox that undoes the finality of Isis’s ending of the curse (Diaz 331). As much as Yunior wants to break away de Leon’s family and every other Dominican family from the curse, he is afraid that the quote speaks the truth, everything continues in a cycle.