lifeinadaptation-blog

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

Learning about the family history of the characters was interesting. It provokes thought on the present effects of their history. We see more examples of toxic masculinity within the Dominican culture. Yunior mentions that one of Trujillo’s most Dominican qualities was feeling entitled to all the beautiful women on the island, like Abelard’s daughter Jacquelyn. Trujillo’s dictatorship and ideals could have perpetuated toxic masculinity among Dominican men that remained for generations. I also found it interesting how the fact that Abelard had a mistress was mentioned in a simple way as if it was normal and common. This is another example of toxic norms among Dominican men. Another factor of the history that seemed to pass on to other generations was colorism. Beli’s dark skin was the first sign of the curse.  This was seen as a curse because whiteness is associated with eliteness. Trujillo worsened the internalized racism with his anti-Haitian acts. We also see it with Abelard’s wife Socorro trying to avoid getting darker. Beli is neglected because of her darkness and has a difficult early childhood until La Inca is kind enough to take her in and give her a better life. With the new generation of Beli’s children, we see Oscar facing hardships because of his darkness.

-Jamaria

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

Having been introduced to the narrator and kind of getting a sense of what life was like for Oscar, a boy who was, objectively, struggling with serious mental health issues, the second act of the story really opened up and took another approach to the understanding of Oscar’s life. In the second act of the book, we are introduced to the origins of the fuku within Oscar’s family. Following the story of Oscar’s grandfather, we eventually see, as readers, the direct impact of the fuku and how it became transient in the life of Abelard, thus eventually cursing Beli and her children. The neglect that Beli faces, ultimately, after being the “fuku child” becomes evident and finishes the tale that was told earlier of Beli’s life. Throughout the chapter, their is a recurring image of a man without facial features. Both Abelard’s wife and Beli see this man in a dream during stressful times, perhaps an omen or a symbol of some evil that lurks with no one to blame. This faceless man is another aspect of the story that plays in to the science fiction sort of subject matter that keeps occuring, such as whenTrujillo is likened to an episode of the Twilight Zone. But what I appreciate about this section is that the narrator begins to sort of spell out the fantasy version of the story and allude to the fact that these problems were reality to Beli and her family. When explaining the Twilight Zone situation, Yunior describes the security rpocedure as “so ridiculously mongoose” (225). I particularly liked this reference as it alluded back to the falsified nature of the mongoose that visited Beli as an adjective for the current situation.

Lydia

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

Oscar Wao

The thing I found most interesting in this portion of The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao was the way that Trujillo ruled over the Dominican Republic. Although he is the undisputed ruler and dictator of the land, there is almost this sense that he is just another every day guy on the streets. It seems more like the Dominican is a small city and Trujillo is the mayor than he is the ruler of a sovereign country, Also, it is very disheartening to listen to the way that Trujilo’s tyrannical rule is described. I have been afforded the privilege to live in the United States my whole life, but I know there are places around the world where rulers like Trujilo really exist and terrorize their people through threats and intimidation. Although it may been a fictional novel and all the characters are played up for their roles, it is tough to imagine living in a country where you are afraid to let your daughter out of the house because you fear that the leader of your country will try to take advantage of her. However, the lengths that Abelard goes to try to protect her is encouraging, as he shows that he is willing to at least attempt to take a stand against his unfair rule. However, I feel like if he really despised Trujillo, he could do more and join other people to stand up to his unlawful ruling.

-Adam

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Abelard influenced his daughter and grandson despite not being present in their lives. His character traits and resilience were seen in them. Abelard and his grandson Oscar, though living two drastically different lives, are not all that different. Abelard, who writes as a hobby and “lost nearly twenty pounds during his awful vigil. Began to drink copiously,” is like a more successful yet less fortunate oscar. Oscar, during his bad years living with Yunior, was overweight, drank when he was sad, sat around all day writing his sci-fi, and lost all of his weight after his suicide attempt. The ironic thing is that while they had similar things about themselves, their life experiences could not be compared. Oscar struggled with his mental health and attempted suicide, and he would have been the first to go before his ill mother if he had been successful. Abelard, on the other hand, went to hell and back while being tortured by Truijillo in prison, but he survived. He survived when everyone else in his family mysteriously died. While in no way does this fact diminish the struggle that Oscar had with his depression, it puts it in to perspective.

Abelard’s story also suggests that he was where Beli got her strength from. She was resilient even as a baby, growing up as a slave in her family’s home. She never stopped trying, even after suffering tremendous emotional abuse and physical harm. She was the daughter of Abelard and if he could get through what he got through - to the end, at least - she could too.

Bailey

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz

The most interesting thing about this story is it uses a lot of Spanish undertone but anyone can relate to it. The story of Oscar Wao is meant to be understood by anyone even though it doesn't match up with the different personality types that the main characters possess.Each of these main characters in this story had something that one could relate to in way even though they didn't go through the exact same thing. There is the sister Lola who is very caring but assertive, Oscar who is a nerd that is desperate to have a girl in his life, and Yunior who is the the extroverted bad boy. 

-Jackson 

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz

Reading the chapter about Abelard highlighted the broad range that this book covers in both setting and content. Up until this point, the novel has mostly focused on Oscar and Lola’s problems with relationships and growing up, which may be a slightly exaggerated, but are not completely unimaginable. Their conflicts feel accessible and take place in familiar settings. As a reader from New Jersey, it’s really easy for me to picture where all of the events are taking place, especially those at Rutgers, which also makes the book feel more like nonfiction. Even the chapter on Beli’s childhood, which took place in the Dominican Republic, discussed her romantic and familial relationships as a teenager. In contrast, Abelard’s chapter feels much more like a national history of the Dominican Republic, addressing a lot of the political problems under Trujillo. The chapter addresses issues that affected an entire nation of people for decades, which are naturally less relatable. While it does feel more distant than the other chapters, I think this chapter functions as a means of putting Oscar’s problems in perspective. After reading that Oscar’s grandfather was a political prisoner who was tortured for no reason for over a decade, the fact that Oscar is overweight or gets rejected by girls really does not seem that bad. The combination of chapters like Oscar’s, which considers very personal problems, with Abelard’s chapter, which discusses a nation’s dictatorship, allows the reader to see the ways in which both large and small scale issues have shaped this family’s history.

Amanda

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The striking aspect of the novel to me is the extent to which Junot Diaz makes the story relatable to everybody, despite the deep Dominican and Hispanic undertones the book possesses. The critique about Diaz’s “unnecessary” and excessive input of Spanish phrases in the novel seems more and more out of place, completely missing the point. The reality is that the story of Oscar Wao is a story that can be understood by anyone due to the sheer breadth of personality types our main characters possess. Oscar is the introverted “nerd” who is desperate for a girl. Yunior is the foil, the extraverted “bad boy.” Lola is the caring but assertive sister. Lola is the tough but strong mother.

Although it is undeniable that there is a heavy Hispanic element to the novel, it is equally undeniable that Diaz has taken great care to ensure the novel does not speak purely to those who are in the same ethnic group, follow the same traditions, and speak the same language. The fact that some incomprehensible Spanish lay intermittently in the text is drowned out by the sheer volume of flat-out relatable characters present. Every character, at this point, can speak plenty to any audience.

- Kevin

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

One of the most interesting things I find about this book is that the plot works its way backwards slowly through the story. In a way, the book's structure reflects much of how life is. You are able to see the present, as in, in the beginning, you are able to see the most recent generation of de Leon’s of Lola and Oscar, and the more you learn about the person / the more you read, the better you are able to understand why the way they are and where they came from. First, the reader is able to learn about Oscar and his story, then Lola and her story, then Beli, and in the most recent chapters, we learn about Abelard. While we see today’s struggles of Oscar, we are able to piece together his odd personality through learning about his past. In these recent chapters, we are able to see Beli before she becomes the main character in our story. We learn about her parents and their parents and the family that we had heard about previously, but never learned about. We are able to see the real-life circumstances that lead to the way we had learned about Beli in the chapters prior. We are able to see that Beli did always have an attitude and that at one point she was just a scared little girl locked in a chicken coop. History builds upon itself, and while we are able to see the world as it is today, it is important to learn what it was like 5 years ago and how the events from then could affect it today, and how the events from 10 years ago could lead to the events 5 years ago, and so on, to truly understand the world.

- Dan

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

The concept of Dominican masculinity comes to a head in this section of reading. Abelard is introduced as a character instead of an idea and is analyzed and scrutinized by the narrator. It is apparent that Yunior looks at this successful and hard-working intellectual with a degree of contempt which he hopes the reader will feel as well, “Sometimes a fragment of a shell or dying horseshoe crab would catch Abelard’s attention…down on all fours and examine it…he resembled a dog sniffing a turd” (p. 213). Characteristic actions of Abelard which some would see as an innate curiosity and insatiable love of learning and nature are reduced to grotesque metaphors. Just the same, Yunior judges the brilliant doctor’s actions in a stressful and life-threatening situation which Yunior would never empathize with, “Maybe if the doctor had immediately…smuggled them all aboard a boat…they might have had a chance…Instead…Abelard fretted and temporized and despaired” (p. 230). Abelard obviously fears for the lives of his daughters and wife, but there is no empathy displayed by the author as he further tears at the image of a successful family man backed into a corner. I believe that Yunior has been conditioned to dislike men like Abelard by his culture, so he writes these terrible things to cover the thought in the back of his mind: that Abelard was a strong and good man who Yunior hopes he can embody to some extent.

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

During the course of reading this book we find out about a lot of things. We figure out that the narrator is someone who is maybe close to Oscar and his family. Yunior brings out much information about Oscar’s family. Yunior gives the importance of his relationship with herself and Lola. It is interesting that there is somebody else telling the story about Oscar Wao and his family.

 We even see that it is a difference between mongoose and fuku. Mongoose is justice while fuku. is a force that explains evil incidences. With mongoose, the act of justice is something everybody looks for when something is going bad for them. While in the book mongoose are black and powerful, which could mean a lot.

 I am very interested in this reading because it is keeping me on my toes about what could possibly happen next.

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

In the first class, we pointed out the fact that Oscar was written in the third personality and I suspected that whoever the narrator was, he/she should be very familiar thOscar’s roommate. In the fourth chapter, the narrator showed up and I wondered, if anything, would Yunior tell us more about the family or more broadly the Dominican culture. It becomes clear that as the story unfolds, Yunior indeed informs the audience more about the family of Oscar Wao through his relationships with both Lola and Yunior and suggests the difficulty and impossibility of the Dominican culture’s adaptation into the US culture. The one scene that stuck out to me was when after Oscar attempted suicide, he was rescued by a Golden Mongoose. Like his mother, the mongoose saved him miraculously.  I found from the internet that the mongoose represents justice and acts as a symbol for good (the opposite of ‘fuku’), which is also culturally important in India and the Africa. Interestingly, mongoose appears to be black and powerful. I am wondering if this suggests that the black is brave and more capable of showing humanity when seeing others suffer. What makes me more surprised is when Oscar says, “it was the curse that made me do it. [It is not only our parents’ shit but] it is ours too (Diaz, 194)”. It seems like the descents of Dominicans knows about the fuku and the darkness associated with it since born and sadly, they feel like they can never run away from it. To some extent, Oscar’s attempt to commit suicide was a curse to Lola because she was once again held back from escaping and following her dreams by family tragedy.  Another thing that stuck out to me is when Yunior says, “in a better world I would have kissed her over the ice trays and that would have been the end of all of our troubles (Diaz, 194). Unlike Oscar or Beli who has fantasy about romantic love and sees it as an escape from the cruel reality, Yunior does not simply retreat into fantasy to deal with his issues with Lola. He recognized the limitations he had living in an imperfect world and somehow came to term with it. It is reasonable that he succumbs to the reality because both romanticized relationships Beli and Oscar have crushed under the regime of Trujillo. To some extent, loving somebody means the possibility of losing them. And unlike Beli and Oscar, Yunior feared the pain of loss. I am not really sure what does this suggests about love in the Dominican culture since there are so many different types of relationships between the different characters by now.

-Alice

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

One thing that seemed interesting to me is after Oscar attempted committing suicide and ended up in the hospital, he just casually chalked that up to the Fuku and his curse. I may have missed this earlier (if it came up), but is there any way that the Fuku can be removed, either through a religious purge, meditation, or something of the sort? It seems a bit odd that a curse could be thrown into a family to never be removed. Also, I’m a bit confused as to why Yunior ended up living with Oscar again after their first year living together. As far as I can tell, Yunior had good intentions with Oscar (with getting him to jog, eat healthy, etc), but it seemed pretty clear that they didn’t want to room together at the end of the first year, so was it something Lola told Yunior that convinced him to move back? I’m sure this will be cleared up later on, but it might be exploring what this action says about Yunior’s character, before we go on to find out why the real reason was. Lastly, I realized that Oscar’s alcoholism situation was pretty ironic, given his social situation. If he did find himself drinking a lot, I would think that at the very least (since some of his drinking was mediated by Yunior), he could have at least gone out to some parties or social events to try and be better known among others. I just found it weird that Yunior is content with watching Oscar drown his sorrows in alcohol rather than trying to channel it into something positive.

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

Oscar Wao

This book has been very entertaining, detailing the minds and actions of Oscar, Lola, and Beli. After the introduction, I was always looking for the fuku in their lives. Oscar seemed to be made of it. It seemed like in his head he wanted a different life, one less fat with more friends and girls all over him, just like when he was little. He was a ladies man, but quickly grew out of that phase into an obese teenager with two friends addicted to his world of aliens, movies, and fascination with girls who don’t want him. I thought Oscar’s section was the most entertaining because of no break-throughs even when I thought he was about to have one. That must be the fuku. When he was always looking at himself in the mirror and made small changes like cutting his hair and wearing contacts instead of glasses I thought this would be a turning point when he lost the weight which seemed to be the biggest factor holding him back. But he never lost the weight. Then he falls in love with Ana and gets friend-zoned and told that her ridiculous ex-boyfriend came back and beats her but she won’t leave him. And that issue doesn’t get resolved. And finally he goes to college hoping for a great change with all the freedom and thousands of girls, but ends up in a nerd club playing video games with all guys. 

Matt

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

I found the role of colorism in this novel to be prevalent and damaging to its characters. When we are given the background to Beli’s life, we see that she faced similar struggles as Oscar. Dark skin is looked down upon and associated with negativity in the culture of the novel. We see how these ideals of beauty affect the self-esteem of Beli and Oscar. Oscar even sees that black skin is reserved for villains, further perpetuating the negative stereotype.

Beli’s lack of self-love due to colorism causes her to seek love in romantic relationships. She seeks this love from men with light skin, because they represent success and wealth in the society she belongs to. She is naïve and accepting of things that lead to self-destruction while seeking love from others. The men tell her they love her dark skin; this is an easy, temporary, incomplete solution for Beli to see her self-worth. It causes her to live in fantasies and have poor judgement throughout her life.

-Jamaria Southward

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Throughout the story, Lola’s character has made some drastic shifts, which I think could be of interest. In general, as far as I can tell, Oscar seems relatively tied to his inherent qualities, and no matter how much he tries to change, he always somehow reverts back to being a shy, timid kid. Lola, on the other hand, has made some pretty drastic personality changes. Towards the start of the story, she was the popular one at school and the responsible one at home, especially during the beginning when Lola’s mother initially got cancer and Lola took after her and the household chores. Later on, Lola entered the rebellious stage and she starts having sex with lots of different men, (such as Yunior, and others), and she doesn’t pay nearly as much attention to her mom or Oscar. Keeping in mind that during this time, Oscar was struggling with his personal life and wanted to be more accepted and his mom was still struggling with cancer, it seemed like the weight of her family (coupled with her troubles at school as she went through different stages that made her different/undesirable, such as cutting her hair and dressing differently) fell on Lola’s shoulders. However, after she stopped micromanaging things at home, it almost seemed like things seemed to break apart even more. I think it might be interesting to monitor the role that Lola has in keeping the family tightly-knit, and that she might have a bigger role than I might have initially thought.

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

The first half of the book was interesting to say the least. Junot Diaz goes in depth to provide the detailed accounts of Oscar, Lola, and Beli. Even though the three accounts were very different which would make it hard for any one person to relate to all of them, they all seem to centered around the theme of love which makes them all at least a little bit relatable. All three characters go to great lengths to find love and keep it yet they all eventually fail (I think this has got to be a Fuku). My favorite part of Oscars story was how his sister at times was the only one who would help him in trying to become the man he wanted to be. Lola praises Oscar for showing some courage when his best friends turn on him upon his arrival back from the Dominican Republic. In Lola’s section of the book, in the midst of her unhealthy relationship with Aldo, she runs away from home. My guess is that this is more of a coping mechanism to deal with the problems she has with her mother and the fact that her mother has cancer than it is because she loves Aldo. Regardless of the reason, there is irony in the fact that the only thing that saves Lola from this bad relationship is her mother when she shipped her off to the Dominican Republic to live with her abuela.

-Jason

[lifeinadaptation-blog]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

When Beli is almost beaten to death in the canefield, a mysterious mongoose saves her life. The mongoose wakes her up, lets her know that her baby is dead, tells her that she’ll have another son and daughter if she can get out of the field, and leads the way. This happens right around the time that La Inca and all of the community members are praying, praying to a point of spiritual exhaustion, keeping the devil away for months afterwards. It is safe to assume that the mongoose that visited Beli is some spiritual being, some God. The mongoose was sent to Beli from all of La Inca’s praying. It makes sense, as the narrator said, “I have no idea how she survived,” because she was close to death and after the mongoose arrived she somehow mustered the strength to walk out of the field. This could have only been done with supernatural help from the mongoose. Also, the footnote describes the mongoose as a great traveler of the universe, an enemy of hierarchies, and an ally of man. This does not describe the common mongoose, but rather a different being. It has to be a supernatural entity, some godly being, if it were to have enough power to help Beli in the state she was in, fighting all of her evils, and if it were to be considered one of the greatest travelers of the universe.

-Bailey