The Theme of Latino Masculinity in 'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao'
As it unfolds in "The Golden Age" section, Oscar is part of a Dominican-American family that lives in Paterson, New Jersey. As a child he is pushed forward to the opposite sex by his mother, which is very proud about his early signs of virility. This is seen as one of the standing characteristics of Dominican males. Further on, we watch the decline of Oscar's success with women as he gains weight and he deepens himself in literature and isolation. This is caused by Maritza's rejection which affected him profoundly.
Although passion and love have a strong influence on Oscar's personality, he is not able to get a girl and this deepens his depression and weight problem. He is the exact opposite of the macho standardized figure.
True masculine force goes back, in family stories from the Dominican Republic, with Trujillo's dictatorship shaping manhood perception in the Dominican culture. Oscar is incapable of rising to male-standard imposed by…
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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
959 Words | 4 Pagesbecause they only think of gender as what they were taught their whole lives. Then when someone does not meet these stereotypes they are seen as an outsider and are ostracized. This can be seen in the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao when looking into the life of the main character Oscar. There are many ways that the idea of gender can be described, particularly in the essay “Performative Acts and Gender Consitiution” by Judith Butler. She tends to lean more towards the idea of gender having…
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Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
1560 Words | 7 PagesDominican In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao we explore an extensive look at our main character, Oscar. A slightly overweight, highly animated, geek of all geeks, and above all a nice kid who is passionately in love with women. Love and violence fuel each other in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Oscar doesn 't seem to find love until his life is ultimately life threatened. Oscar and our narrator Yunior, are opposites when it comes to Dominican masculinity and act as foils…
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Essay about Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
1835 Words | 8 PagesJeffrey Fisher Final Paper Eng 102 Professor Peterson Trujillo and the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is not a happy book. The Author, Junot Diaz, does a great job fooling the reader into believing the story is about the De Leon family, specifically Oscar who is an over weight nerd trying to find the love of his life, but due to a family “fuku” or curse Oscar is having a lot of trouble doing so. Instead, the story actually portrays the dark history…
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Analysis Of The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
857 Words | 4 Pagesthem is called Junot Diaz. “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” is the title of Junot Diaz book in which we can perceive the author’s allusion to William’s Shakespeare play in order to comprehend the book better wise. There are many allusions that Junot Diaz had in mind of the play “The Tempest” while writing his book and the one that beats them all is the resembles of the rightful Duke of Milan in the play, Prospero and Yunior, the narrator of the story of Oscar Wao. Each of their personalities,…
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
1111 Words | 5 PagesIn Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, he is telling the story of a Dominican family but mainly about the son, Oscar de Leon. The book opens with the story of Oscar as a child and him having two girlfriends at the same time. The older people in town see him as a ladies man and encourage him. The boy and the two girls all break up and his life seemed to be on a steady decline since then. He grows up to become a nerdy, fat, and awkward adolescence with few friends and even less interest…
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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
1357 Words | 6 PagesJunot 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…
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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao By Junot Diaz
1871 Words | 8 PagesThe Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is an enthralling novel about a young Dominican boy, named Oscar, who is growing up in a New Jersey ghetto. Oscar is an overweight nerd who is constantly getting attracted to any pretty girl he lays his eyes on. Unfortunately for him, Oscar isn’t just overweight, he’s tragically overweight. However, Oscar’s real true love is writing. He absolutely loves writing, and is always creating stories when he is not playing his “geeky” video games. Oscar’s…
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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
1697 Words | 7 Pagesbetween peoples of different racial categories. In addition, the strained and chained dislodgment of millions of indigenous Africans by white hegemony immensely added to the current racial hybridity of the Americas. Junot Diaz’s novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao brilliantly illuminates the struggles of the immigrant as he tries to find a sense of belonging in a new environment whilst carrying a heavy, culturally inherited baggage that is part of an individual identity. In this particular case…
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The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
2284 Words | 10 PagesLITERATURE AND CULTURE JANUARY 20, 2012 INSTRUCTOR: MR. WAITHAKA The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is about a Dominican family who lives in Paterson New Jersey and they have been through many tribulations in life. The theme I chose for my essay is Fuku and Love, in the novel these two themes were mainly the reason why the characters got their self in situations they could not overcome. The novel is…
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The Story Of An Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
1147 Words | 5 Pagesin traditional Dominican culture dominates Diaz’s novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” The descriptions and experiences of the main characters in the novel, namely, Oscar, Lola, Beli and Yunior highlight the theme of sexuality in Dominican culture. Yunior is the hyper-masculine narrator who presents sexuality in terms of the power and expectation of Dominican masculinity (Asencio 108). He embodies the ‘el machismo’ masculinity stereotype prevalent in Dominican culture where men have high…
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