Oscar Wao Identity

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz debuts a character named Oscar who struggles between exhibiting two identities; that of a Dominican, and that of a nerd.” In Dominican culture, being a true dominican man requires an alpha mentality through life, especially in the realm of public appearance and within the world of picking up women. On the other hand, a nerd is labeled as someone who exhibits none of those qualities and is generally more interested in non-social hobbies such as reading comic books, or playing video games on a constant basis.
Oscar’s attempt to blend two different cultures into one in order to establish his own unique identity made me reminisce on the early days in my life, in which I too, also struggled between exhibiting two different identities. Unlike Oscar, both of my identity issues stick within the realm of race and heritage. My father being Caucasian, and my mother being African-American makes …show more content…
One afternoon, my father came to pick me up instead of my mother who was usually given the task. As we were walking toward the car another parent stopped my dad for a brief conversation. At this same moment another student, who I assumed had to have been new to the school, asked me if I was adopted. Dumbfounded, I looked at him, responded with a stern no, and began to wonder why someone would ever ask me such an idiotic question. The student walked off and my father eventually finished his conversation, but before returning home he had to stop by the local Giant. Little did I know, this specific stop at the Boca Raton Giant would open my eyes to the concept of race in society. While my father was searching for food in the shelves, I was looking through the store and gazed upon various children with their parents. Epiphany struck, and I realized every parent had one thing in common with their child that I did not with my father, and that one thing was skin