Each country, state, region and town are able to produce people with a certain identity. Those from California are laid back, those from New York are in a hurry and are unfriendly, and those from the Caribbean can be considered violent. From these examples, it is clear to see that every different area in the world consists of people with a certain identity. But if these people were to migrate to a different area, say Japan, would their identities be affected? In the novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, readers are able to find the answer to this question. The novel tells a story of a young boy, Oscar, who is growing up in a world that continuously moves between his homeland of the Dominican Republic and the area to which his family
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After reading this novel, it is clear that migration negatively affects Caribbean identity. Throughout this novel, it is possible to see how migration affects Caribbean identities via the main character, Oscar. The novel starts off by describing Oscar as “not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about-he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a play with a million hots on his jock,” (Díaz, 11). This first sentence shows that the identity for typical Caribbean men was to be a playboy. However, readers quickly learn through the above quote that this was not the case for Oscar. Though, there was a time when he was seven and was juggling two girls (Díaz, 11). Skip to a few years later when Oscar is in high school, and his luck with the ladies drastically changes, all because he hits puberty (Díaz, 18). Here, readers can already see that the hopes of Oscar having a typical male Caribbean identity is probably not going to work out. Oscar’s transformation from a high-school student into a college freshman is where readers really start to see his Caribbean identity change for the worse. Oscar seems to fall in love with many girls, including Ana and Jenni, however, none of these relationships seem to pan out in
After reading this novel, it is clear that migration negatively affects Caribbean identity. Throughout this novel, it is possible to see how migration affects Caribbean identities via the main character, Oscar. The novel starts off by describing Oscar as “not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about-he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly bachatero, not a play with a million hots on his jock,” (Díaz, 11). This first sentence shows that the identity for typical Caribbean men was to be a playboy. However, readers quickly learn through the above quote that this was not the case for Oscar. Though, there was a time when he was seven and was juggling two girls (Díaz, 11). Skip to a few years later when Oscar is in high school, and his luck with the ladies drastically changes, all because he hits puberty (Díaz, 18). Here, readers can already see that the hopes of Oscar having a typical male Caribbean identity is probably not going to work out. Oscar’s transformation from a high-school student into a college freshman is where readers really start to see his Caribbean identity change for the worse. Oscar seems to fall in love with many girls, including Ana and Jenni, however, none of these relationships seem to pan out in