Techniques And Literary Devices In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao which foster the theme of alienation and dislocation of the earlier civilization in the background of globalization by resources of the view and domination of west culture. The beginning of the story poses the independence subject of the immigrant by orator such as, should the immigrant tries to integrate and be more approximating the people in his adopted country to keep at maintaining his cultures and tradition in a threat of the surroundings. It is associated to the questions of the alienated colonizer and their own quest for all the identity.

The dominant personality Oscar struggles to encompass her individuality and find clash between the two cultures in the work of fiction. Description is a telling of some fairy-tale or sequence of actions portrayed by a speaker. Diaz writes about the real mirror image of cultural tribulations or problems. In addition, he also reproduce himself as an colonist in the U.S.A. He is an African immigrant who group up in America. It create him a high-quality in combination two cultures, both African and American. He has resist with current topic. He seeks cynical about customs and traditional, until now he locate out in their tradition the input for the yearning and requirements of tradition present time. He is a modern author from the time when his script places of interest the idea of the trivial women with an endocentric setup. In his workings, approaching take favorite over the obligation of method. He be familiar with the irony in a agreed spot and also plays an ideological, intellectual, philosophical, artistic struggle. In this sense, the author hypothesizes the sign of post-modernism, ego, freedom, love, sex as challenging through his modern emotional responses.

The European custom of rational thought and technical inquiry, previous to all, subsist in combination with Pagan mythology and the Christian religion, faith pattern based, not on cause or technical observation, but on faith, which is the faith in what cannot be see or weigh or measured. The next pending of Christ is no additional rational or technical than the Aztecs’ faith in the leave rear of the deity Quetzalcoatl; together are matter of faith. Certainly, native American superstition¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ is no additional illogical than the European faith in ghost, vampires, occasion of the filled moon, the supernatural authority or being similar to a small man.

Diaz work of fiction is simply partly concerning Oscar. It seek to tell the tale of the Dominican Diaspora, the collocation of Latin America, and the result on the past and storytelling of the fight of cultures, by investigative Oscar and the nuisance nearby his family. The work of fiction question postmodernism’s complexity in establish essential a system, demanding the idea that not anything begin and that book is never-ending; that the earth and all in it is a building. The book’s structure or figurine bellow the question; “Of what bring in are brief, anonymous lives…to Galactus??” Galactus, of, course, life form a being of divine status and authority in Jack Kirby and Stan Lee’s unbelievable Four Comics. The whole tale serves as Diaz’s retort.

The story are unimportant, that person history be short of value, is the postmodern, connecting to a galaxy view of literature. In his story, Diaz contends that rejection life is nameless; that language has lives. It is this dispute, perhaps, that lead him to release the story with a curse, a sympathetic to the supernatural practicality buzzing of satire. The curse, dubbed by the storyteller as Fuku Americans, is describe as “ the great American doom,” a tear release of reality bring to the New World by Christopher Columbus, whom the storyteller refers to only as “ the admiral,” because “ to say his person’s name out loud or still to perceive sound it is to ask tragedy on the head of you and yours.” in spite of the bright wordplay, Diaz from the onset establish the thought the words have very real, considerable existences.

Instead of long-lasting in the supernatural practical person custom of treat the paranormal as commonplace, however, the storyteller calls notice to the curse because a reality, inviting and to grin dryly dismiss true declaration. “It’s perfectly fine if you don’t believe” he tells us. At first a overseas danger in the form of the migration of the world, Fuku turn inner when the Dominican Diaspora begins.

The novel, frame as a Fuku story of Oscar’s family, center approximately the U.S. back despotism of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, describe by the storyteller as “ our Sauron, our Arawn, our Darkseid, our Once and prospect ruler, a famous person so bizaree, so unacceptable, so awful that not still a science-fiction author could have made his ass up ”.In the first of the novel’s long footnotes, the storyteller provide a basic coverage for “those of you who missed your compulsory two seconds of Dominican history”.

Diaz’s innovation and aptitude lie in his method of narration. He has used a variety of technique in script such as option narrative, first person narrative, note and dairy writing, legend and the supernatural practicality chiefly to state chaotic and sad situation of African immigrant while establish themselves to the new civilization. The writer strikes a easily broken connecting dream and practicality in his novels. In his The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, there is a combination of dream and realism.

Diaz is stylistically different; he uses the mixture of initial human being and third human being story connected with explode reverse strategy to give realism and force in the novel. The writer used the flashback in time using a kind of method such as retelling of recollections and vision sequences. Flashback breaks in a narrative’s linear moment flow. Diaz’s novels begin in the there but for a while go rear and onward in time. His story focuses on the being of an immigrant. Throughout them he try to show their internal fell and experiences.

Thus, his novels are usually written in initial human being and methodically hold the booklover. The chapters in Diaz’s novels are name after the middle characters. This is a very elite outline of script which obviously brings out the interior approach of the protagonist. Diaz’s novels lampoon is more obvious. His protagonists who are annoying to appreciate their state of receipt features tongue in cheek situation. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao , Oscar comes to America with the reason that he would be having an inborn ability develop.

It is obvious that the protagonist of the novelist like Oscar, Lola all get free of humility or humbleness so as to act in concord with their internal voice. They are all in reality heading for by the courage while with a satirical balance between trust and disbelief. Diaz has nothing to do with the truth that life is not a series of show lamps. By the prime use of trust mainly in the end of his novels to pass on a wider human point of view i.e. life is totally unreliable and has to be lived through hope.

Oscar’s sister, Lola, was a lot more realistic. Now that her adoring years were over-what Dominican girl doesn’t have those? She’d curved into one of those cruel Jersey Dominicans, a long-distance messenger who group her own car, had her own checkbook, called men bitches, and would eat a fat cat in front grade she’d been attack by an older acquaintance, and this was common information throughout the family and present that urikan of pain, judgment and bochinche had made her tougher than adamantine.

Lola well thought-out him with her tiger-colored irises. She’d been back a week and it was clear that college-level road was kick her ass, the sclera in her usually wide manga-eyes were shot through with blood vessels. You know, she said finally, we colored persons talk profusion of shit about affectionate our children but we really don’t, we don’t, and we don’t.

The plot of the story is simple and complex, simple due to the logical narration, without travelling reverse and onward in time. It is multifaceted in the intelligence that the lettering takes some strange decision and can be unspoken by throw an imminent into their psyche. Diaz’s lettering is every one very well-written. Most are women African and most are livelihood in America. They all approach out from the piece of paper as unlike, some tolerant their condition, some rebelling, some yet similar to the way they are living. Diaz makes all his quality old in their ethics and still very comprehensible and like-able. His lettering move violently to let go them from a customary bound society in arrange to increase a self-governing identity.

Most of Diaz occupation is partly autobiographical. He deals with the settler experience, which is a significant subject in today’s world. He writes to join people and he does this by destroy mythology and stereotypes. As he breaks down these barriers, he dissolves limits flanked by populace of dissimilar backgrounds, communities, age and still dissimilar worlds. Most of Diaz’s script centers approximately the lives of immigrants.

Individuality disaster is the main subject through which the writer portrays the two countries African and America. It is also called as tradition and change. In many of the expectations, a small number of font faces as far as teaching and wedding are customary. They are set role they must also believe or danger ahead a reputation. Dress, celebrations, and spiritual beliefs in the novel are very much a part of African culture. In customary association women are not expected to have the power to leave home.

By the end of the novel, however, there are changes. Western influence and westernization of African society, especially the upper classes stand in sharp contrast to the traditionalism of the middle and lower classes. Freedom and resources in the west are often bought, chiefly by the settler.

In literature, imagery occurs when amazing stand for something as well and holds significance. Imagery plays a large position in the plot, be it the goblin tale that the sisters turn approximately themselves to tell each other, or the steady references to mythology. So reference to mythology has been used as a income to renew the thoughts of modernity. Diaz refuse conservative mythology and make novel ones in the first part of the novel both the hero attempt to be conventional to the customary female roles allocate by the male hegemonic society.

The mother enters the original earth of women. These are representatively shown when they sell their dilapidated, family home and go to a small number of flat. The alter in them following they move to their original house is wonderful. One of Diaz’s sole styles is that he creates his own images that are at once significant to readers. The symbol logy is Diaz’s present to readers, in adding to the story itself. This method adds extra measurement to Diaz’s ability as a writer that of a polyglot using semiotics, imagery and to some level, religion of language and phrases.

He skillfully spares the readers of archaism in her style, maintaining the tall height of person who reads appointment and attention as of the start to the end. He influences into the story rudiments of disagreement as part of the story structure with the intention of keeps the readers engaged. The disagreement in his story is based more on lettering them on plots. He introduces element of curiosity, if not mystery, into the story. There is a lot of action in characterization between the early conflict and the eventual resolution. The characters in her story drive the plot.

Thus the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao a literary fiction. The story is ambitious more by font than by plan. Diaz craftily uses similes, images and shape of language and make sure that the story is temperate and agreeable reading. His use of metaphors, play and ardently living description expose his fine cognitive aptitude to view or picture lives in close and rice details. It tells them in a way that makes the reader fell they are not only observing a tale but are, in fact, in the story. His aptitude to connect reader is amazing. Diaz lift up the work of storytelling to an art of form.

Yunior still makes compass reading in the footnotes to his there life earlier in the novel than when he describe it in period Eight. Yunior thus builds the writing of the novel and his relationship with Oscar into the enhanced olden times of the Dominican Republic. The group of regulation imaginative writing reference throughout the novel and footnotes highlight the fantastical fundamentals of Dominican history. While referencing chronological figures, Yunior often includes the novel’s fantasy font in the historical events.

Dominican Republic Culture And Its Negative Effects In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

Pulitzer-prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, is a short story about a lonely, overweight, sci-fi nerd named Oscar Wao who comes from a family of immigrants from the Domincan Republic. Throughout the novel, Oscar attempts to find love and find his own identity but never does within his community. He blames the fuku which we learn through flashbacks of Beli, his moms. life and his grandpa’s life. We also get a glimpse of Lola, Oscars sister, life. In Diaz portrayal of the characters Oscar, Lola and Beli, we are able to see the patriarchy society deeply ingrained in the Domincan Republic culture and the negative effect that results from this.

First, it’s important to understand an element of the novel that was brought up very often and that is the “fuku” or what Diaz refers to as the “curse or doom of some kind”(Diaz1). In the beginning of the novel, Diaz mentions the history of the Domincan Republic and believes that “the arrival of the Europeans on Hispaniola unleashed the fuku on the world”(Diaz).This means that when the colonization of the Domincan Republic began, so did the curse of the “fuku”. When thinking about what colonization really is, it can be seen as a way to conquer, dominate, and control land. Colonization could be a representation of the Domincan Republic trying to conquer, dominate, and control women. This patriarchy could be seen as a curse due to all the negative effects it has on some characters. When mentioning the history of the Domincan Republic and the fuku as well, this can demonstrate the deep-rooted patriary structure that’s clearly evident in the Domincan culture.

Throughout the novel, we are able to see Oscar struggle in this patriarchal society. Based on the history and the dictatorship of Trujillo, the idea of a “machismo” in the DR is accompanied with someone who not only is powerful but abusive towards women. We see this with Oscars friend Yunior who is also Domincan. He described himself as “a guy who could bench 340 pounds” and who constantly had women around”(Diaz170). Another time we see this domincan stereotype with Belis boyfriends, The Gangster. He was described as having “piimpdaddy style” and who allows Beli to get beaten up when pregnant. (Diaz 121). One more time we see this is with Oscars ex girlfriends Ana and Ybon. They are both abused and mistreated by their boyfriends, yet they don’t leave them, showing the power men have on women. Oscar is always surrounded by these gender expectations that he must fulfill . He is fully aware that he is not a typical Dominalecan male since “couldn’t have pulled a girl if his life depended on it…couldn’t play sports for shit “.(Diaz19). When college came, Oscar was still struggling with the same issues. College is supposed to be a place to get girls, and serious relationships with serious feelings come after college. Oscar is not able to find a girl to hook up with, let alone love and even his friend Yunior said that “At college you’re not suppose to care about anything- your just suppose to fuck around…”(168 Diaz). He cannot fit in with the people he is supposed to identity with most- his own race. The stereotypes of Dominicans damages all those who do not fall under those stereotypes. Oscars inability to conform into a stereotypical Domincan leads him towards depression and suicide. Oscar is shunned for his differences. He is cast aside from those who fit into the stereotype.

Another time we are able to see societal expectations is through Lola. For a moment in the novel, we are able to see Lola appear weak and belittled due to the abuse and neglect she gets from her mother, Beli. She also talks about the beatings she got, as the boyfriends that bullied her. While she was going through this, the community she lived in did nothing about it since it was a Dominican community in New Jersey. Although Lola does struggle for a time due to these harsh expectations of her, she begins to rebel against all these stereotypes. As we continue reading we learn that Lola is not what is expected of a female because she is athletic, powerful, dressed in all black, and even “shaves her head down to the bone, Sinead-style”(37 Diaz) which can be seen as things men are supposed to do and be. Lola is also a very stubborn and strong girl and we see this through her relationship with Yunior. Lola was the one who “put an end to” (331 Diaz) the relationship instead of letting herself be controlled by a man. She challenged the idea of what a female is in her culture. Lola begins to live in a way that is not accepted by society. In a Domincan’s eyes she is viewed as a disappointment.

Through Beli we are able to see the effect the objection of women has on her. At first, we are able to see Beli stay away from the abuse masculinity when she goes through education. Beli has dreams to become “a doctor with her own hospital”(Diaz 97) but as she grows up she realized that her “desirability…was, in its own way, Power”( Diaz94). Beli uses her sexuality as a weapon against men and to get ahead, even using it to land a job at the Palacio Peking(104-105 Diaz). She also does this with her crush Jack Pujols and with the Gangster. These typical Domincan men view women as purely sexual objects, but Beli did not want to admit this since she believed that using her sexuality as a weapon was her only way out. Soon she realizes that there are consequences for this since she gets pregnant by the Gangster and gets beaten up by his wife in a way “that breaks people…utterly”(14). As a result from this, Beli takes up the aggressive role of a typical Domincan male by abandoning her housework, becoming an “absentee parent” and by scaring her children more than “the dark or el cuco”(54). Beli after escaping to the United States starts “working three jobs” and “slaps grown men”(59). Although her role was more masculine, she still expected her daughter Lola to follow the typical female expectations. The stereotype that has been ingrained into Beli ultimately leads to her abusing Lola emotionally and physically. As usually a male would do, Beli ignores Lolas sexual assault and tells her to “shut her mouth and stop crying (56) What we can see through Beli is that her worith is based only on her ability to attract men.

Through this novel, we are able to see the three characters not only struggle with the effect of the patriarchy but also fight it off. Going back to the fuku, the curse, we see these three characters breaking the curse. Oscar not only doesn’t physically represent a Domincan male but also “spend time gaining “some knowledge of self and women” instead of looking for only sexual desires with women. (Diaz 41). Since he goes against the male norms, he is fighting the fuku curse. Lola also fights against the fuku curse since she goes against the female norms. As she becomes stronger, she is able to overcome the curse since she doesn’t conform to what society wants. We see her overcoming this fuku when she finds happiness with her family of her own. Beli also fights these social norms but not in the way that her kids did. They all experienced the effect of the expectations and stereotypes but Lola and Oscar were the ones who challenged the fuku and overcame those expectations.

To wrap this up, in the novel The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz is able to show us the negative effects that patriarchy system has through Oscar, Lola, and Beli. The fuku plays a big role in representing this male dominant society in this novel in order to show us that as long as the stereotype of gender roles and expectations are present, then they are here to haunt us. Gender issues need to be addressed more since it can lead to negative affects. This novel helps the viewer open up their eyes to this system in order to make a change to these expectations because if not this curse or fuku is us here to haunt us forever. If things don’t change, this curse is the “end of the world” , as narrator says.

Work cited

  1. Díaz, Junot, 1968-. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. New York :Riverhead Books, 2007.

The Portraits Of The Main Characters In The Book The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

When reading a story about multiple characters do the readers ever notice anything they have in common or different? In the story “ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz the two characters Lola Delone and Oscar Delone have many similar dependencies yet are completely different people. Lola was the sibling that was outgoing and can handle stress that comes her way; compared to Oscar the one that runs away from his problems. It is easily seen while reading this novel the instant contrapositive between these characters. First and foremost, the comparison between Lola Delone and Oscar Delone is the childhood they never had.

Oscar’s interest in genre make him so undesirable that he would get teased and never had friends. Diaz writes that, “Everybody else going through the terror and joy of their first kisses while Oscar sat at the back of class,behind his DM’s screen and watched his adolescence stream by” (Diaz 23).This shows that he never really had a childhood like everyone else , since he was just an observer.Oscar was a social introvert he never was the best at making friends which made him feel like he never enjoyed his youth while it lasted. The author shows his reader how Lola was struggling day to day as a kid. She wasn’t the typical girl that had a girlhood constantly being abused by her own mom and even being a victim of rape. Lola had to be independent at such a young age since her mother didn’t really care about her. Although Oscar and Lola are different , the both have some similarities.On the other hand Lola and Oscar are the complete opposite when it comes to their love life.Lola was the girl that was always had all the men wanting her and all the attention that she needed from them. “ I was dating a boy by then,a sweet morenito by the name of Max Sanchez, whom I had met in Los Mina while visiting Rosio.(Diaz,72)

Lola was consistently in a relationship , she was never afraid to approach a guy to express her feeling. While Oscor was the boy that dreamed of one girl liking him or even giving him the attention he was desperate for. Oscars constant rejection from girls made him give up on love that caused him to never be in a relationship. He was so scared to approach his crush’s that he would write fantasy novels about them. Although they both have different love life they handle it in a completely contrary way.Lastly the dissimilarity between Oscar and Lola in this story was how they both were physically different. Oscar was known for being the fat ghetto nerd that weight two hundred and forty five pounds. “Over the next couple of years he grew fatter and fatter”(Diaz,16). He lacked a masculine man body, lack of interest in sports made him gain more weight quickly. Most of the kids on the block called Oscar fat and bothered him about his weight. On the other hand Lola was the opposite she loved sports, being number one on her tack team. She literally has no fat on her and has musculature legs that impressed everyone. She even stops traffic,since guys can’t keep their eyes off her due to her toned body.Both of these characters are physically different,since they both like the opposite things.

Although Lola and Oscar have many similarities such as not having the childhood like a normal kid did. But there are more difference between these two characters such as their appearance and love life. But in this novel Lola was the sibling that was able to tolerate whatever things were coming in her way. After considering Lola an Oscar it is clear that Lola is more mentally and physically stable.