Oscar Alone Character Analysis

Oscar, alone, types furiously away at his typewriter. Oscar, alone, dreams of the woman he saw on the bus earlier in the day. Oscar. Alone. In The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz illustrates the way in which one’s society can both burden and create one’s identity. As Oscar meanders through his life without any firm direction, his approach towards girls and his rare parlance determine the life he lives. They are what ostracize him, but are also what make him special. They make him worthwhile in the world he lives in: the world he does not want to live in. Oscar is a curious character. He is someone whose story is normally tossed to the sea to be gobbled up among rusted cans and plastic wrap by a lobster who cannot find anything …show more content…
His constant repetition of his exploits with various girls--“Me, who was fucking with not one, not two, but three fine-ass bitches at the same time and that wasn’t even counting the side-sluts I scooped at the parties and clubs”(185)--and his descriptions of how they would catch him with other girls illustrates more than just his infidelity; it reveals that he acts like getting girls is something he can’t control, something he can’t stop; it’s an innate force, practically genetic. This mindset may possibly be Yunior’s way of defending his cheating, but it also is in fact in the customs of the other men readers are shown. Similarly, Yunior’s seldom mentions of Oscar’s Uncle Rudolfo nearly always refer to Rudolfo’s questionable tactics with females or drugs. That Rudolfo seriously tells Oscar to “grab a muchacha, y metéselo,” (24) doesn’t merely signify how little faith Rudolfo has in Oscar to get a girl by other than grabbing her, it illustrates how this way of getting girls, which is really just blatant sexual assault, is not a joke to Rudolfo. Women are his toy, his game waiting to be played. Oscar is surrounded by these men, yet his awkwardness with girls sets him on a different sexual path. In fact, Oscar actually has to respect women, to cherish them to get them. His nerdiness and immense girth--“[Oscar], you’re kinda way fat you know” (24)--force him to attempt to get girls in the long run as he lacks the moves and tools that Yunior utilizes. In a gradual process, Oscar attempts to woo Jenni. He puts his heart on the line because his natural inclination makes him latch on to any girl that shows him any attention or respect. Since Jenni would hold his hands, hug him, and hang out alone in his room, when the dream all came crashing down, it crashed hard for Oscar. While those steps may seem like entry level steps in a relationship to