Calixto, Jeric C.

ENG 11

(WFW3), Oscar Wao

Junot Diazs The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao comes to me as a story
about a nerdy kid that wants to find true love (or someone to have sexual
intercourse with, oh I dont know, maybe sex is a form of true love for them) but in
the end dies because hes too stupid to mess with those in power, or maybe it was
really that curse, the fuku inflicted to their family by Trujillo, which goes way back,
as far back as two generations before Oscar. I dont know. Its very confusing. I do
not even know what the main focus of the story is anymore. Was it about Othe fuku
alone? Was it about a boy that is looking for true love? About the oppression from
those in power? Or maybe it was indeed the interplay of all of those things, and
more. Anyway, this paper will focus on the themes used by the story and how the
characters actions intensifies it.
First, let us enumerate and describe the themes present in the story, starting
with Masculinity. This one is a very strong issue in the story, as this pushes our
beloved hero to eventually do stupid things that led to his death. Masculinity, in its
Dominican sense, is about being good with women (sexually), being charming and
attractive, and being violent. Having or being G in life, which Oscar clearly lacks.
This one is already presented to us in many ways. This was the definition of a
true Dominicano, as Oscar was during his childhood. He had the G back then, dating
two girls at the same time, and take note, he was less than 10. This was the main
driver of the plot in the story, because Oscar lost his G as he grew up. From being
one of the top dogs, he went down and became a nerd. And to make things worse,
puberty hated him. He got fat and was attacked by acne, which lead to him losing
his balls, losing his identity as a true Dominicano, and was mocked by other people
because of it, like his uncle and those who he lived with in Demarest.

This was also backed by other Dominicano characters, like Tio Rudolfo, the
womanizing ex-convict who likes to get high off of heroin. I guess he was used by
the author as a bad example of a Dominicano. Definitely not a good example to
follow, but ironically, he was one of the men that was teaching Oscar on how to be a
real man. Another example would be Yunior, which is everything that Oscar was not.
He was

masculine and charming with the ladies. Heck, he was even the

womanizing kind. He was that good with the ladies. Even Trujillo was presented as a
true Dominican dictator, in the sense that he believed that every toto in his territory
was also his. Evident enough with the fear of Abelard when he hid his daughter from
him because Trujillo was known to fuck every beautiful woman that he sees.
All of them was able to do the same thing that Oscar was not. To have sex
with someone. And with it being a key factor in Dominican masculinity, Oscar was
fully stripped of his Dominicano-ness, which what he was looking for in the rest of
the story.
Another one would be the abuse of power and rebellion. Very evident since
the start of the story. This theme was presented by numerous characters, or
situations both in the Dominican Republic and in New Jersey.
Early in the story, even before the narration began, Trujillo was already
introduced to us as the dictator of Dominican Republic. And of course, oppression
was expected to come afterwards, just like any other dictators. The exercise of his
powers during his regime, how he fucks every beautiful woman he sees, and nobody
can do anything about it. The numerous killings that he allegedly ordered, and
notably, the unjust incarceration of Abelard Cabral, and even the extension of power
from Trujillo to those who are around him, like La Fea, the Gangster, and various
political personas present in his party during his regime. The true definition of
corruption.
It was also evident during Oscars stint with Ybon. Our hero seems to be
really stupid, or blinded by love, that he chose to mess around with the girlfriend of
the capitan, thus angering him. And our powerful capitan then ordered his
henchmans Solomon Grundy and Gorilla Grod, to torture and eventually kill Oscar.
To think that he was an official in the police force.

Another notable theme presented was the feminine sexuality and its
empowerment. This theme was heavily used in both the story of Beli and Lola. Both
of them were described as head turners, heck, enough details about their physical
structures were given for you to clearly visualize their images (oh those 35 triple-Ds
of Beli, and Lolas slender legs and beautiful cuco). Their sexual characteristics were
the source of their power, and how strong those powers were. Belis was enough to
get her and the son of a high-ranking official in Trujillos regime togther. (Or maybe
it was the other way around this time, as she as fooled into believing that Jack
Pujols would indeed marry her).
And in Lolas case, with her power coming from her ass and legs which were
able to stop traffic when wearing shorts, was used for her escape. Most evidently
when she prostituted herself to the father of a classmate for 2000$.
The Supernatural is also tackled by the author. I do not know if this has any
connection with the Dominican culture, as I am not well-versed in that topic, but this
was portrayed with the concept of fuku and zafa, the mongoose, and the
premonitions of the no-faced man.
Ah the fuku and zafa. The curse that was believed to have been casted by
Trujillo himself to his enemies. One of the presented reason why the Cabral family
was met by many unfortunate events in three generations their lives, from Abelard
and his wife Socorro and daughters Astrid and Jackie, to Beli, Abelards third
daughter, and onto her children Oscar and Lola. Though there are many possible
explanations as to why these events happened, the author proposed a supernatural
reason from the very start of the novel. Fuku. And though some of the characters
did not believe that the curse was real, the idea was reinforced by repeating a line
from the definition of Fuku in the beginning that even though you do not believe in
the fuku, the fuku believes in you.
Another presentation of this theme was the mongoose. We can assume that it
was just their hallucination, but the narrator presented it as another supernatural
phenomenon. The sight of the mongoose was arguably the zafa needed that can
counter the fuku. The faceless man, on the other hand, can be seen as somewhat a
harbinger of death, also represents this theme. The power of La Incas prayers also
add to the things that present this theme

The supernatural theme was present until the end of the story, because
ironically, even though Lola did not believe in the curse, her daughter was made to
wear three amulets to counter the fuku.
Other recurring ideas within the novel is Love and its consequences. Which is
more or less violence, according to gradesaver.com. Which was clearly presented
through the death of our protagonist, that Love is directly related to violence. Other
supporting details were Belis love for the gangster, where she ended up getting
beaten to death in the canefields. Abelards love for her daughter can also be noted
because it got him into prison and eventually tortured and killed.
Another notable theme, as mentioned by gradesaver.com, was about the
untold stories of the silenced. Las Paginas en Blanco. I though that this was only a
motif within the story, considering that some parts were Martial Law-like in essence,
but this theme extended not only within the story itself, up to the way the narrator
told the story, by leaving blank statements for the readers to interpret. Another
representation of this theme was of course, the faceless man. I cannot clearly state
who or what this is, but it clearly shows us that its identity was forgotten, hence
having no face. Maybe it was the representation of those who are silenced and
eventually forgotten, or maybe it was the curse itself,
All in all, the novel was a very interesting read because of the numerous
themes that it presented within the story. I also liked the way that it was
written/narrated, as it was not very formal. The use of spanglish was very helpful for
the readers to easily grasp the context and the mood of the story.
Now about the story itself. Well what can I say, it tackled the concept of love.
I am guilty of doing the same thing that he did (making stupid decisions while in
love, though not like the suicide and being the third party part of it), though not the
same severity of stupidity. But I did it not do it because I wanted to feel loved, or I
wanted to fuck someone, which is a factor of macho-ness in our society (I see it as a
weakness, or more of being dependent), but because I wanted to love. I wanted
someone to take care of. If I was Oscars friend, I would have slapped some sense
into that guy, because I saw him as blinded by love. Well, at least he succeeded.
Even though he died, I am still happy for him, though I am not justifying that what
he did in his numerous attempts to get laid was right (those chicas have partners

already!) I am also not saying that it was wrong, as they were mistreated by their
partners. And I have to give it to the guy, nothing stopped him from achieving his
goal. Not even the idea of his very own death. Thats one very determined nerd.
On the topic of curses, I personally do not think that the curse casted on their
family was the one to blame for all of their misfortunes. Those things that happened
can be traced from bad child rearing, then making a ton of bad decisions, to simply
being at the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe we can consider that they are
just oppressed in their life, or that they are just not the ones in power, and the
concept of abuse was very prominent during their time. I agree more on Lolas
reason. Life happened to them. But I guess it definitely added to the mystery of the
story, as it was never confirmed if their family was really cursed. And I have to
admit, it was indeed intriguing at the end when Yunior thinks about the zafa for the
fuku, if this was truly it (retelling Oscars story), or if it was passed on to Isis.