Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao vividly articulates the roles of sex and gender relating to the Cabral-de León family and their plight within a context of Dominican culture promoting machismo and sexism. Led by Yunior, a man centered around womanizing and also of close relation to the family, the narration entails a lively description of the accounts of the Cabral-de León family while demonstrating the effects that machismo has on society. The novel mainly circles around the happenings of Oscar de León, but his story is told through the narratives of the family that came before and live in conjunction to him, namely the narratives of strong female family members. Nonetheless, oftentimes Yunior shrouds this narrative through
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As a result, many have ruled out this novel of conveying any feminist ideology, however behind the misogynistic content lies a largely feminist sentiment that subtly conveys itself throughout the story. Although the novel appears to encourage sexism through Yunior’s misogynistic narrative, the novel portrays multi-faceted, strong women that shape Oscar’s life, and as a result Díaz uses this medium to address the rooted sexism that permeates today’s society while making it relevant and relatable- making this text a feminist piece.
Yunior’s narrative, although lively and entertaining, exhibits a large amount of sexism in his narration, resulting in a normalization of the misogyny and machismo present in the Dominican culture. Oftentimes, Yunior devalues the women present in this novel to mere objects, present only for their sexual appeal and other superficial attributes. Even describing Lola, Oscar’s sister, whom he “cared about” a lot, results in his mere description of her physical attributes- “almost six feet tall and no tetas at all and darker than your darkest grandma” (158). Yunior, “the biggest player of them all”, lacks the capability to describe the women that he …show more content…
The story of one character that compellingly portrays an intricate woman was the narrative of Belí, one of the strongest women in the novel and a large part of Oscar’s life. The novel describes Belí as anything other than the sexist roles that women are degraded to under the ideologies of machismo. In once instance, the novel portrays Belí as anything but a committed and loving mother. Lola describes that Belí “never said a positive thing in her life, not about the children or the world”, and this description of her mother deviates from a societal view of maternity as warm and protecting (56). Belí’s resilience through the tough events in her life also deviates from the sexist view that women lack strength and need men in their lives to support them. Belí was put in a dangerous situation by a man whom she loved, and without any assistance, although prayer from La Inca may have helped her, she rose to survive capture and torture by men who worked for Trujillo. Belí would “not give [her torturers] the pleasure” of witnessing her pain, and even though she was fearful “she refused to show it” (146). As Belí led a life of strength, she refused to serve and never “follow[ed] any lead other than her own” (103). However strong,
As a result, many have ruled out this novel of conveying any feminist ideology, however behind the misogynistic content lies a largely feminist sentiment that subtly conveys itself throughout the story. Although the novel appears to encourage sexism through Yunior’s misogynistic narrative, the novel portrays multi-faceted, strong women that shape Oscar’s life, and as a result Díaz uses this medium to address the rooted sexism that permeates today’s society while making it relevant and relatable- making this text a feminist piece.
Yunior’s narrative, although lively and entertaining, exhibits a large amount of sexism in his narration, resulting in a normalization of the misogyny and machismo present in the Dominican culture. Oftentimes, Yunior devalues the women present in this novel to mere objects, present only for their sexual appeal and other superficial attributes. Even describing Lola, Oscar’s sister, whom he “cared about” a lot, results in his mere description of her physical attributes- “almost six feet tall and no tetas at all and darker than your darkest grandma” (158). Yunior, “the biggest player of them all”, lacks the capability to describe the women that he …show more content…
The story of one character that compellingly portrays an intricate woman was the narrative of Belí, one of the strongest women in the novel and a large part of Oscar’s life. The novel describes Belí as anything other than the sexist roles that women are degraded to under the ideologies of machismo. In once instance, the novel portrays Belí as anything but a committed and loving mother. Lola describes that Belí “never said a positive thing in her life, not about the children or the world”, and this description of her mother deviates from a societal view of maternity as warm and protecting (56). Belí’s resilience through the tough events in her life also deviates from the sexist view that women lack strength and need men in their lives to support them. Belí was put in a dangerous situation by a man whom she loved, and without any assistance, although prayer from La Inca may have helped her, she rose to survive capture and torture by men who worked for Trujillo. Belí would “not give [her torturers] the pleasure” of witnessing her pain, and even though she was fearful “she refused to show it” (146). As Belí led a life of strength, she refused to serve and never “follow[ed] any lead other than her own” (103). However strong,