Oscar Wao Identity

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In the coming of age novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, written by Junto Diaz, the author uses a collection of narratives from characters of the past and present to address the struggles and adversities of growing up as a Dominican and the hardships of living during Trujillo’s regime. The story focuses on a Dominican male named Oscar, who, due to his nerdy interest and naive love for woman, gets himself in trouble and faces many issues throughout the story. His main issue in the novel is trying to come to terms with his personality and accepting his nontraditional Dominican identity. Through the use of the main character Oscar, Diaz addresses masculinity in the Dominican culture as well as the clash between culture and identity and the idea of being born without the choice of an choosing ones identity.
Understanding the Dominican culture in regards to masculinity plays a huge role into understanding Oscar as a person and the trouble he has fitting into his Dominican cultural identity. Masculinity in the Dominican culture means exerting power and control over everything. Men are the head of the household, the main provider, and are supposed to be excellent flirts. An example of …show more content…
As stated in the article “Machismo and the Dominican Republic”, this aggressive mindset of masculinity is very common among Dominicans and that it “is not recognized as a result of a social structure, but as a biological result” (“Machismo and the” n.d). Many believe that men are biologically supposed to be into those “masculine” activities such as sports, flirting, and displaying control and power because it is simply in there nature. Likewise, the fact that the mindset is popular among the culture brings up the issue pointed out in the novel of the clash between cultural identity and

Essay about Dominican Republic and Brief Wondrous Life

Themes: Power. Power, power, power: everybody wants it, but not everybody can have it. And who's got the lion's share of this stuff in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao? Who owns (or HYPERLINK "http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pwn" \t "_blank" pwns) the other characters? Trujillo, of course. You can practically picture Trujillo sitting on his dictator's throne smack-dab in the center of the novel, lording over nearly every character we meet. Just like how the real-life Trujillo…

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Brief Wondrous Life

how the issues of culture and identity are presented in "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Was" by Junior Diaz. It will focus specifically on Diaz's word choice and use of figuratice language to impact the text. In "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao", the reader is introduced to the main character, Oscar, when he was younger. Young Odvar was praised for his aggressiveness and lover boy acts towards girls. For example, ".. some drunk relative inevitably pushed Oscar onto some little girl and then…

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The Brief And Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao Summary

In Junot Díaz’s novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a very critical and pivotal aspect of the novel itself is Díaz’s continual inclusion of Dominican history. Díaz uses them as points of reference to relate the fictional story back to the nonfiction culture it is built around. His use of paramount people and events tied back to the Dominican Republic connect his characters back to their ancestral roots. Therefore, the concept of history is vital to the development of the novel because…

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Oscar Wao

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz, is a novel that discusses the history of the Dominican Republic, traumatic high school experiences, obesity, and the “expectations” of a Dominican man. Díaz’s choice of voice for Yunior de Las Casas, one of the main narrators is both distinct and relatable making it very easy for readers to connect and feel empathy towards the protagonist, Oscar Wao. Yunior recounts Oscar’s life story in a very biased and opinionated manner, especially when…

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A Boy Without A Flag Analysis

Historically, immigrant groups within the United States consistently develop identifiable cultural themes as they fight to establish their identity as an integrated minority group within the United States. Frequently, these communities utilize literature and other artistic works to highlight these themes in a way that is logical and emotionally appealing to an American public that is often prejudiced against minorities. Nuyorican and Dominican-American writers are an excellent example of this phenomenon…

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Summary: The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

ago? And what is this fukú phrase, a mysterious curse from the other dimension? Or rather, the inequality and discrimination that had inherited from generations to generations? In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by using a Dystopian narrative of the protagonist Oscar, Díaz had revealed the other side of an overly praised immigration concept in order to ask his audience to actively change this situation of racial inequality and discrimination existed in the United States. Junot Díaz…

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Ethnic Literature Research Paper

but upon reflection, I considered the patriarchal society that is dominant in this culture, and perhaps it is the wife’s obligation to consult or have the husband open the gift, even if it is not specifically for him. Yet another example is in Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. To come specifically to the point, I do not understand this idea of why it is understood that Dominican men are supposed to be these “manly men” that women flock to and fall on their knees for. That the sexual appetite along with innate…

Words 1272 - Pages 6