Essay on The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

The novel shows its theme and purpose through the story of Oscar de Leon, the main character. He is a Dominican American kid from a family of immigrants. Oscar grows up to be an overweight and nerdy child that is anti-social and obsessed with science fictions and hides in his fantasy world. He grows up to be a teacher, and during his upbringing, he becomes a hero searching for his love, his personal Grail. The author writes from a perspective of his sister, Lola as well as Yunior, his best friend. The reader realizes that the story uses these characters to show the aspects of dictatorship, the nature of authority besides the search of redemption from the ties of dictatorship (Fabiszak, Ewa, & Bartosz, 213). The story encompasses many themes, and this paper seeks to analyze the author of the novel besides the role and purpose of the novel.

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Junot Diaz who was interested in analyzing the hybrid nature of the American culture writes the novel. This fiction book was his first novel. The narrator states that, "Even now I write these words, I wonder if this book is not the zafa of sorts. My very own counter spells. (Diaz, 7) It is evident that the tale is about two opposing groups or forces, the fuku and zafa. Fuku refers to the tragic curse whereas Zafa is the counter spell. Zafa is used as a good luck charm that is useful when protecting oneself from the curse. Despite the tragic fuku curse brought upon on their family, Lola is determined to redeem away from her family and culture and tries to protect Oscar from the curse. Yunior finds it hard to understand Oscar but still appreciates him as a friend; he sees his friend as a tortured soul within a cursed family.

The novel acts as an antidote to the tragic curse. Diaz, therefore, calls the novel a zafa, as it aims to act as a counter spell against evil. The novel is more of assimilation tries as it takes the readers through the tale of the children of immigrants moving towards the American middle class in a society where the experiences of their previous generations are influencing their current lives.

The role of the story is to analyze the concepts of the history of the Latinos by bringing out the aspects of dictatorship in the former government systems. The author uses Oscar who seems very unaware of his history, which apparently has dominated his life. According to the author, the idea of family amongst the Latin Americans is far more creative and practical compared to their American counterparts. The author uses Trujillo as a character that shows the aspects of dictatorship (Fabiszak, et al. 213). He shows the dangers of tyranny. More so, the elements of dictatorship are evident in the writing of the book ad its narration. This is because the author writes the book according to how he wants it to be. The author has an utmost say in whatever is published, and he writes it in a manner that suits his world. It shows how all and sundry is entrenched in the pit of dictatorship.

Additionally, the author embraces the use of footnotes in the novel to create a double narrative. It is evident that they seem to challenge the main text. Considering that the book is about the demerits of dictatorship, the author decided to see the footnotes as a second voice. This was with the purpose of avoiding the aspect of dictatorship in the telling of his book.

Violence is inevitable in such a society that has poor leadership and a cultural heritage that has a curse following down generations. The curse put upon the family of Oscar had led to tragic events in the family. In the novel, it is evident that Abelard faces torture and imprisonment after he refuses to meet the commands of the dictator. Trujillo expected him to give him his eldest daughter to fulfill his sexual fantasies. Moreover, Beli is also attacked violently for having an affair with the husband of Trujillos sister. Oscar, the main character, also dies brutally in the cane field following his affair with the girlfriend of a police officer in the Dominical Republic. From these accounts of violence, it is evident that it was a crime to mess with those in higher authority. Going against them was punishable by death.

The shadow and legacy of Trujillo influence the lives of all the characters in the novel. Different characters react to dictatorship differently. Other like Lola may desire to run away from it, other ignores it, and others are in a state of denial. This aspect of dictatorship still applies to the modern world in the sense that those in power make the laws and they design them to meet their needs. The event that is relevant in my life is that of immigration from another country into the United States. This was the case of the family of Oscar, who move from Santo Domingo into the United States.

References

Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. , 2008. Internet resource.

Fabiszak, Jacek, Ewa Urbaniak-Rybicka, and Bartosz Wolski. Crossroads in Literature and Culture. Berlin: Springer, 2013. Print.