The Curse And The Doom Of The New World

European colonization changed the economy, culture, and history in general, therefore making it a hugely influential event. Not only did it change Europe, but it completely changed the New World.

There were many reasons the New World was the most wanted to explore. The Spanish, French, and English came about the New World the same way but for different reasons. The Spanish came in search for God, Gold, and Glory. The French, for money and religious conversions of Native Americans; and the English, to find religious freedom. Each of these empires expected to come and establish a powerful empire in the New World but came across difficulties along the way, their values dictating how they run their colonies.

By definition, a revolution is the overthrow of a suppressive government in favor of a new government, but it is also defined as a large change in society, or how it works. After the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus, European Nations competed in a race against one another to claim pieces of the new land. Before Columbus found this land, the sea separating the New World from Europe seemed endless. The Europeans were only interested in the land to the East. But with the New World there was so much to explore. The Europeans tossed aside their old toy to go play with a new one. During this time period of conquest throughout the New World it became known as the Age of Exploration. A New World meant more land, which meant places to build homes and plant crops, and more money to be earned by buying out new houses and selling new crops grown in foreign soil. These times of change are known as the American Revolution.

Junot Diaz a bilingual writer plays with language and culture to develop a story that he believes represents Dominican Republic. Oscar Wao an opponent of everything that we can find in a typical Dominican Macho finds love and death in the country where everything started. Amor is a word that is used only a couple of times in the novel but has a great meaning behind that develops to the curse itself and a series of unfortunate events.

Flawlessly the narrative is filled with mysterious symbols of faceless men that attach to the “fuku” aka “zafa” that is generally a curse or doom. Moreover, the faceless men are used as a gesture, to give a signal to the reader, that something dangerous is about to occur.

“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

The ruler is a dominant character whose core desire is to rule, but suffers from the fear of being overthrown. If the ruler had a motto it would be “power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” (Golden). These characteristics describe Trujillo perfectly. Trujillo’s desire led him to become “[. . .] president in a sneaky way. First, he was in the army, and all the people who were above him kept disappearing until he was the one right below the head of the whole armed forces” (Alvarez 17). Readers are able to obtain better knowledge about Trujillo’s motivations by knowing he is a ruler. Trujillo’s need of control is why he does what he does. If a person does or says something Trujillo does not approve of everyone will “[. . .] be killed. It’s the secret of Trujillo” (Alvarez 17). He carries out such horrible acts because he knows he can and it is his way of scaring the citizens in order for him to keep his

1. What fundamental factors drew the Europeans to the exploration, conquest, and colonization of the New World? What was the impact on the Indians, Europeans, and Africans when each of their previously separate worlds “collided” with one another? What caused the shift from indentured servant to African slaves as the dominant labor force in the southern colonies?

Glorifying European accomplishments in the New World is wrong because the benefits of exploration came at a heavy cost. The conquerors were greedy and treated the native people cruelly. Also due to European settlements a majority of native culture was destroyed and the population was depleted. If European explorers weren’t killing the native people in battle they were unknowingly killing them with diseases that their immune systems had not been exposed to. Overall the European conquerors paid no mind to the thousands of “indians” they were killing, they solely had wealth on their mind.

When singing up for “The New World” the soon to be colonists did not know what they were agreeing to. Perhaps there were thoughts of undeniable freedom that drove the group of Britains to this new land and away from their original rulers. Upon arrival the new colonists were bombarded with several new laws and policies that left them with their hands in their mouths. They had just gotten away from their cruel rulers, and now there are supposed to pay all this additional money to help them (“1773”)? No, what happened was that a group of radicals were formed instead and this group slowly formed a revolution. This collection of angry colonists was the root of to separation of the Colonies from Britain, and it all started with the Stamp

Fukú is a prevalent theme throughout the novel and is portrayed through the faceless man. The Washington Post speaks of their interview with Diaz and stated,

Impacts of European expansion reached across the world and affected more than the expanding European powers and their colonies in the new world. Life in the world changed when these two cultures that were directly opposite of one another collided. Europe was filled with greed for resources and wealth, the Indigenous people living on these resources were living a simple sustainable life with next to no government or regulation. Once the new world was set up Europeans who ran these new territories called colonists today developed their own society and way of living and would end up revolting against the homeland.

In the early 1600s, the greatest empire of that time, the British empire, demonstrated one more time its immense level of power by conquering the New World. The Jamestown settlement, also known as the beginning of America, was occupied by a group of British conquerors willing to impose their traditions, culture, and language on the natives of Jamestown. Many historians, politicians, and influential people, as the Queen of England, have claimed that the first British settlement in America was founded by three principles that nowadays govern most of the countries in the world: democracy, equality, and diversity. While a vast number of people agree that America has been strengthened by embracing those three principles, many conservatives, as Patrick J. Buchanan, have disagreed with that idea. Patrick J. Buchanan, one of the most influential conservatives in the U.S. who has run for President three times, has mentioned in many of his publications how atrocious is for a country, especially for the United States, to embrace democracy, equality, and diversity. In “Deconstructing America,” Patrick J. Buchanan claims that the founding values of America have not only stopped it to prosper, but also have helped to destroy it and pull it apart. Patrick’s arguments of the destruction of America are actually very accurate and effective.

Fugui first had the thought of taking his life when he lost his family fortune to gambling, driven to the edge of despair, “He wanted to hang himself [myself] with his [my] belt and be done with it.” (P28) However, Fugui did no implement this into action when he “realize [d] that he [I] had not the slightest inclination to take off his belt.”(p28) Life still had a meaning for Fugui at that point, taking away his own life was merely a way to “punish himself [myself]” (p28), he was confound and did not know the direction of life, the impulsion of taking away would only lead to more desire to live, the moment when life is eminent to death a human being would come into realization that life is precious. However fugui’s value of his life did lower due to the misfortune, as he sates: “When your life has been reduced to the level mine had, you really don't care all that much.” (p47) Fugui once was a man at the very top of

Children of the New World: Acting out “The role of Algerian women in their own society has rarely been what it has seemed” (Heggoy 1). Prior to the Algerian war, women in Algerian society were under patriarchal rule and, under such rule, were expected to meet certain expectations. Among other rules and regulations, Algerian women were prohibited from being outside their home unaccompanied and were required to keep themselves heavily “veiled” at all times. They were not to question the authority of the Algerian men, especially the ones in their family. Despite these limitations, Algerian women found a place in the revolution. Although it sometimes meant defying their status quo as women in Algerian society, women used the resources and