The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

freedom in his work, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, as all of the characters are seeking freedom from something in the story. Oscar and Yunior are held captive by the stereotypes society has implemented in terms of true Dominican masculinity. There are certain standards to which men of their culture are held. Men are supposed to be good-looking and have a strong sex drive – two characteristics that both Oscar and Yunior’s lives are centered around. In the case of Oscar, Yunior tells us he…

byproduct of her grandfather’s murder, and it is not coincidence that thought and dreams of death plague Soccoro for her entire life. While…

Passing and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao place an emphasis on physical features. Although both novels take place in different times and settings, both novels are creating and representing women as exotic sexualized objects because of their gender and race. Larsen and Diaz’s emphasis on the blackness of female characters demonstrates the timelessness of the importance of skin color. Irene’s thoughts when she sees Clare: “Did that woman, could that woman, somehow know that here before…

In Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao we get a greater glimpse into the politics of phenotypes and authenticity in Dominican culture. More specifically in its relationship to blackness. In Irene Lopez, a Puerto Rican clinical psychologist’s essay, Puerto Rican Phenotype: Understanding Its Historical Underpinnings and Psychological Associations, she posits that, “Puerto Ricans who consider being “Indian” more beautiful, or more authentic, than being Black and, thus, often prefer to…

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…

Oscar and my cousin have a lot of similarities as well as few differences. In the book, the very first chapter ‘GhettoNerd at the End of the World 1974-1987’ describes everything about Oscar and his life experiences. Oscar often faced different obstacles because of the way he looked. For example, the narrator starts off stating, “Our Hero was not one of those…

household level but often engulf entire nations into separate cultures distinctive from our own. Junot Díaz and Jhumpa Lahiri provide an alternative lens into the lives of those living as Americans in a culturally different home. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Unaccustomed Earth present the parenting styles of Dominican and Indian families and the potential lifelong changes that come with each’s cultural ties. In both books, we see how education,…

opposition. Perseverance is not when you give up simply because you can’t come up with anymore ideas of what to write. An example of perseverance is when Junot Diaz -as stated in his essay Becoming a Writer – was writing his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It took him more than a decade to complete, but he refused to throw it all away and give up. He continued to write, even if his writing wasn’t good enough to publish, in hopes that he would come up with something better. Eventually…

resurrection saved the world from Nazi Germany” (Vernon 174). He first develops the motif externally, as he wants to use his authorial power to retroactively “save Linda’s life” (O’Brien 223), but gradually elaborates to the point where the salvation includes some form of himself, as he becomes “Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story” (O’Brien 233). Ultimately, his insistence on the ability of his inconsistent narrative to bring salvation conveys his personal necessity for the empirical…

Love is unique, it’s an emotion that we suppress. We bury it deep inside ourselves till we find that special someone, then we set it free. It takes control of our bodies, our mind, our way of thinking, and our actions. For the purpose of believing we love someone. What if the person that you loved, didn’t love you back, or if it was misguided by lust instead or they were using you? In the short story “Aurora” by Junot Díaz, Lucero believes that he is love with his on-and-off again girlfriend…