Reflection: The Brief Life Of Oscar Wao

the Platano Curtain, he acted like it was his very own plantation, acted like he

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

“FUKÚ” is an atavistic deadly curse that follows the De León family, and everything that can go wrong for them does. However, I believe that the fukú is only a consequence of their actions and a way for them to rationalize their misfortunes. The characters are using fukú as a crutch in place of taking responsibilities for their own actions. This is because they don’t want to accept the fact that things don’t always go the way they want them to. So they choose to blame the fukú for making their problems happen. So when fukú strikes a mongoose appears it comes as a character of a guardian angel with a sanguine presence. A mongoose is a weasel like animal that appears in the near death experiences of the characters. When it comes it shows a

One thing the Gangster forgot to tell Beli is that he was married and the wife was Trujillo blood. Since Beli was so excited about the pregnancy, she was telling everyone about it and soon the news got to the palace and the Gangster wife was furious.

Yunior is a hyper-sexual, athletic male, who was “Fucking with not one, not two, but three fine-ass bitches at the same time and that wasn’t even counting the side-sluts I scooped at the parties and the clubs… who had pussy coming out of his ears” (Díaz 185). His descriptions show how little he cares for these women, and that he only sees them as his conquests. Women, to him, are a notch in his belt, a sign that he is as masculine and he is expected to be. The ideas that women are sexual objects and a man must conquer as many as possible to be masculine is an ideology sustained in the Dominican Republic and ingrained in the minds of its people. Even when faced with the woman he could truly love, Yunior could not let go of the practice of proving his masculinity by having sex with multiple women, “One day she called, asked me where I’d been the night before, and when I didn’t have a good excuse, she said, Good-bye, Yunior” (Díaz 324). He chose to lose Lola because he was too stubborn to let go of his habits. This book is misogynistic because of the lack of respect for women expressed through characters like Yunior, and the ideas expressed through him that one’s sexuality is dependent on one’s attractiveness to the opposite

Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, set in the late 1900’s, tells a story of Oscar Wao, an overweight Dominican “ghetto nerd”, his mother and rebellious sister who live together in Paterson, New Jersey. Throughout the novel Diaz incorporates many different stories about each character that show acts of resistance. One of the most prominent stories of resistance in the novel is through Oscar’s mom; Beli, who is prompted by great tragedy, known as the Trujillo curse, to love atomically and thus follows a dangerous path. Beli’s family history plays a large role in her choices that eventually compel her into a different life than what her adopted mother, La Inca, had wanted for her.

Affects of Turning Points Almost everyone might have a turning point in some part of their lives. Whether it is good or bad, that point might completely change the way you are, the way you believe and it could have life long consequences on your personality. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, is a great book to show how those turning points have affects on different characters.

Looking back at the amount of writing I’ve done for AP Literature, I can see growth in my understanding of poetry and of literature. There are skills and concepts that I need to focus on and refine as I continue on through the class, but I am confident in the abilities that I have picked up so far.

Oscar Wao: Hero or Fool? Does following the heart always make someone heroic? The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is a peak into the life of a Dominican boy named Oscar, who followed his heart all the time. He struggled to meet society’s expectations of how masculine he should have been and ended up being viewed as sensitive and weak. He went through a lot of problems and made many difficult decisions.

The ending of a novel can be evaluated by the reader in several different ways, however to properly analyze the work is to further explore the logic of how everything has come to be. The ability of the author to show the reader that the ending is reasonable from the preceding action and the character’s nature is what should truly be examined. Not only is the ending of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz both happy and unhappy, it is logical in the sense that it follows logically from the climax of the novel all while the character’s have been constant throughout, except Oscar. Oscar, the protagonist experiences a life-changing transformation that leads to his untimely death. However, the ending is convincing because of this

Do not change your life to please other people. Sometimes by sticking to the way you truly are it teaches other people a lesson on who they should be. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, Oscar sticks to what he likes doing instead of conforming to what Yunior, Beli, or Lola would like him to be. Oscar is not the stereotypical Dominican teenager; he likes reading, writing, science fiction and cartoons instead of bringing home girls. He does not lose weight just to get girls; instead he stays inside and writes what most Dominican men his age have zero interest in. It not only makes him happy, but after he passes away it teaches his family that it is okay to be who you are.

In Dominican culture, as portrayed by the novel, humans have very little control over their own lives. Instead, the opposing forces of fukú (curse) and zafa (counter spell) dictate the events in a person’s life. We see that in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the boundary between what is real and what is considered fantasy often melt together in order to heighten the power of the supernatural forces. As it is stated in introduction, the Dominican Republic is a magical space where the fantastic flourishes: “What more sci-fi than the Santo Domingo ? What more fantasy than the Antilles ? But now that I know how it all turns out, I have to ask, in turn : What more fukú ?” (6) The fictional elements of the fukú are symbolic of the horrors of the Trujillo rule. The Cabral family does

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the author presents the reader with recurring mysterious images and characters. In visual art, repetition of colors, shapes and textures is used to create unity, emphasis and rhythm. Because Diaz is painting his story with words he is using the literary device of repetition for the same reasons, for emphasis, to create a rhythm and to tie the account together. The narrative of Oscar and the Cabral and De Leon families and friends moves back and forth in time and the repetition of images with slight variations is a powerful way of maintaining and connecting the story line or theme in what may seem like a jumble of events. The “man with no face” and “paginas en blanco” , ‘blank pages’ or missing words are just a few of the recurring symbols used to connect past, present and further and to emphasize the predictable yet random feelings and consequences of 'Fuku'. By looking more closely at how and why these symbols were used, the major theme represented in the story of Oscar’s wonderful life, becomes apparent.

In High School, English wasn’t a topic I had lots of trouble with; I would do good in the class. When I got my test results back, I noticed I was placed in EWRT 211. This is a mistake I argued, there is no way my English level is that low-ranking. Being placed in an EWRT 211 class was a shame in my eyes. I thought this class is going to be a waste of time I don’t need to improve my writing. The placement test made a mistake. All the excuses you could possibly think of to tell myself that I don’t belong here. I soon came to realize that I was wrong, this class could actually fix my writing. Throughout the course of the quarter, we used multiple books. My favorite was, They Say, I Say. This writers guide helped me greatly as it presented me with new tactics. One of which I found to be extremely helpful was how it suggested I break down the quote and analyze it. Since we would use the same format in class when we analyze quotes given by our

In reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, You can obviously notice Yunior the narrator is portrayed as a true Dominican male. It becomes evident that a large focus is put on both male and female roles and situations. Through these critical parts found all through this book, it winds up noticeably apparent that through the outrageous manly demeanor (machismo) is anticipated from men from the Dominican Republic, the ladies, thusly, are disrespected and unworthy are viewed as simply like a toy or object. Junot Diaz looks at his characters from a women point of view too, exploring the impact women have upon not only his life but also the men characters too. Through seeing how the Dominican culture impacts the characters in The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, it enables one to completely comprehend the thought processes and activities of the characters all through this book.