From the opening words of the novel, Junot Diaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is fully invested in the notion of a supernatural spell identified as fukú. Entitled “the Curse and the Doom of the New World,” fukú is the umbrella encompassing every horrifying suffering endured by the Dominican people, including those of the Cabrals, whose fukú story “ain’t the scariest, the clearest, the most painful, or the most beautiful,” but simply “the one that’s got it’s fingers around [Yunior’s] throat” (1, 6). Although the backdrop for the novel is a deeply accurate and tedious presentation of Dominican history, Diaz laces the Cabral family narrative into the atrocities and aftermath of Trujillo’s ruthless dicatorship, tying everything together …show more content…
with the unrelenting deathgrip of fukú. The connection between Trujillo and fukú is so ominous that no one can even establish “whether Trujillo was the Curse’s servant or master, its agent or its principle, but it was clear that he and it had an understanding, that them two was tight” (3).
Despite the darkness and violence splayed across the pages of the novel, Diaz’s message is hopeful, manifested within the slivers of light accompanying sightings of the Golden Mongoose, who resists fukú with a counterspell of its own, known as zafa. Within the cyclonic tug-of-war between fukú and zafa, Diaz magically portrays the incessant struggle for power between the subjugation inflicted by Trujillo’s dicatorship and the liberation released by Yunior’s writing. Yunior, or our “Watcher,” even claims that “as [he] writes these words [he] wonders if this book aint a zafa of sorts. [His] very own counterspell” …show more content…
(7). As Abelard, Belicia, and Oscar dance with their fukú, we see that no matter how debilitating their sufferings are, zafa always has the last word. Writing itself, though not a tool to enlighten or to comfort, is the giver of freedom and beauty to all the people in the world who are so utterly oppressed by the fukú that has plagued them and their families for so many generations. Suitably set in the pinnacle of Trujillo’s reign, Abelard’s narrative introduces us to the fukú that will come to haunt him for three generations over.
Yunior chooses to begin his exploration of the family curse “with Abelard and the Bad Thing he said about Trujillo,” particularly with Abelard’s escalating paranoia that Trujillo is seeking to deflower his eldest daughter, Jacquelyn (211). With the reputation that Trujillo has garnered over the years of his regime, the doctor’s suspicions seem to be an iminent reality, even if they are based entirely on inference. Although Yunior claims that it is a “well-documented fact that in Trujillo’s DR if… you put your cute daughter anywhere near El Jefe, within the week she’s be mamando his ripio,” Abelard’s fears never materialize, and Jacquely is untouched (217). However, through Abelard’s struggles during this episode, Yunior fully establishes the magnitude of power and influence Trujillo has over the people under his rule, even those in the nobility. The extent of fukú involved in everything about Trujillo’s regime oozes from the countless rumors spread about his insatiable appetites, cruel injustices, and omnipotent influences. Our Watcher even says most people “believe that not only did Trujillo want Abelard’s daughter, but when he couldn’t snatch her, out of spite, he put a fukú on the family’s ass” (243). Whatever the truth may be, we cannot ignore the supernatural influences surrounding the dictator, which explain so much
about the darkness and suffering inflicted upon those who would resist or plot against him. Thus, the oppression felt by Abelard is otherworldly, and even we as readers cannot see any miscalculation on his part concerning the threat Trujillo represents on his family.
Guillermo González Camarena was a Mexican electrical engineer who was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television, and who also introduced color television to Mexico,
When you see someone characterize someone else as a nerd, what do you generally think about this person, what if this same person is characterized as a geek? Most people generally hold a negative connotation with one of these titles, some see it as the geek and some see it as the nerds. Oscar De Leon and Yunior from Juinot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao can be classified as members of either of these groups in some ways. There are ways that they fit in and ways that they don’t but first, in order to see how Oscar and Yunior fit into the geek or nerd classifications or not the criteria must be defined.
Gabriel García Márquez, 1982 Nobel Laureate, is well known for using el realismo magical, magical realism, in his novels and short stories. In García Márquez’s cuento “Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes,” García Márquez tactfully conflates fairytale and folklore with el realismo magical. García Márquez couples his mastery of magical realism with satire to construct a comprehensive narrative that unites the supernatural with the mundane. García Márquez’s not only criticizes the Catholic Church and the fickleness of human nature, but he also subliminally relates his themes—suffering is impartial, religion is faulty by practice, and filial piety—through the third-person omniscient narration of “Un Señor Muy Viejo con Alas Enormes.” In addition to García Márquez’s narrative style, the author employs the use of literary devices such as irony, anthropomorphism, and a melancholic tone to condense his narrative into a common plane. García Márquez’s narrative style and techniques combine to create a linear plot that connects holy with homely.
In the novel there is a curse called the fuku. The people of the Dominican Republic believe ...
Trujillo was fixed on having his way with Abelard’s eldest daughter, Jacquelyn. But Abelard went to great lengths to avoid Trujillo and the curse with him as well. This is where the curse first crosses paths with the Cabral and de Leon families. The curse takes the lives of everyone in the Cabral family, except for young Belicia. Abelard’s love for his daughter leads him and his family to tragic and violent deaths, which can only be credited to the fact that the fuku curse goes wherever love is.
By examining the narrative voice as well as the cultural restraints placed on them, readers can see the sexist culture in the novel and that the novel itself does not necessarily advocate this misogyny. Yunior, a Dominican man, is the overall narrator of the novel, so readers essentially see everything through his masculine eye. When discussing a brief fling with Lola, Oscar’s sister, Yunior says, “Even those nights after I got jumped she wouldn’t let me steal on her ass for nothing. So you can sleep in my bed but you can’t sleep with me?” (Diaz 169) His question suggests that it is his right to sleep with her, and his discussion of Lola herself objectifies her by noting only her body and her refusal to use it. This objectification is clearly sexist, but it is a reflection of the narrative voice, Yunior, not of Lola. Yunior will casually refer to a woman as “a bitch” (Diaz 183), which is clearly demeaning, but it is a man’s view and does not reflect on the substance of the women. It shows readers the culture he was raised in, not an actual portrayal of the women, illustrating a misogynist society but not a misogynistic novel. In the Dominican Republic, gender-based violence is the fourth leading cause of death, hinting at the overall problems caused by the hyper-sexualized nature of the country. Sociologist Denise Paiewonsky
Fuentes’ Aura is definitely a strange story. It is hypnotic; it draws you in with its slow, seductive style. That is how I would describe this twisted love story that ends very surprisingly. Within this story there is symbolism that helps the reader to understand it better. First, we will explore some of the symbolism that could show us there was an effect on Felipe’s mental state.
On the surface, Fuentes' Aura is a very strange and eerie book. It draws you in and keeps you there, forcing you to read the book to its very end. Just below the surface, a world of symbolism, words and parallels lead to a greater understanding of what is happening throughout this captivating tale.
Through vivid yet subtle symbols, the author weaves a complex web with which to showcase the narrator's oppressive upbringing. Two literary
Whereas Oscar’s mutation can be seen by those around him, Yunior’s sort of marinades over time. Like Oscar, Yunior is also a nerd, on many occasions he admits to watching Akira, a Japanese anime with Oscar, and can even read his Elvish writing on their dorm room door “(Please don’t ask me how I know this. Please.) When I saw that I said: De León, you gotta be kidding. Elvish?”(172). This is not the only time in which Yunior inserts his knowledge of Pop culture. Throughout the course of the novel, Yunior references many different genres: from science fiction to fantasy, and Star Trek to The Lord of the Rings. Yunior’s love of things that would typically be classified as ‘nerdy’ is not the only thing that sets him apart (secretly) from Dominican culture. As the novel progresses, the reader can see that Yunior truly loves Lola, one of his ex girlfriends and Oscar’s sister. In fact, he moves in with Oscar during college at the request of Lola. Towards the conclusion of the novel, Yunior also says “I wish I could say it worked out, that Oscar’s death brought us together…[I] alternated between F… Lola and these incredibly narcissistic hopes of reconciliation that I did nothing to achieve”(324). Yunior’s mutant ability, which can only be defined by his actions throughout the novel, is actually disguising his feelings and who he is so that he may blend in with the Dominican concept of what it means to be masculine. After Oscar’s death and being too late to win Lola over, we begin to see a reemergence of Yunior, one who gets married and “don’t run around after girls anymore. Not much, anyway” (326), and that one day hopes to show Lola’s daughter the writings of Oscar’s that he has kept throughout the years. Yunior, at the conclusion of the story, has matured in many ways, much like the way Wolverine matures throughout the X-Men movies, and goes from being a “lone-ranger’ of sorts but eventually joins the X-Men in
Beli resisting La Inca portrays her downfall because Beli makes choices against La Inca’s desires that will harm her. She is unaware of her history and background of the Abelard family, other than the fact that La Inca continuously tells Beli that her father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse. Abelard Luis Cabral was Oscar and Lola’s grandfather, the man who said something bad about Trujillo, thus eventually sending the fukú curse down to Beli. Diaz writes “In those long days-before delincuencia and bank failures, before Diaspora- the Cabrals were numbered among the High of the Land “(211). The Cabral’s held a high place in society, but it was not until Abelard Cabral upset Trujillo that he was sentenced to the curse of Trujillo’s reign. The power of Trujillo is so strong that it ruined not only Abelard Cabral’s life, but also his wife and three daughters’ lives as well. His two daughters died abruptly and Beli suffered later in life with her love. Trujillo’s power is able to especially affect Beli because she knew nothing about her history. Diaz describes Trujillo by writing, “You might roll your eyes at the comparison, but, friends: it would be hard to exaggerate the shadow of fear he cast over the Dominican people and the shadow of fear he cast throughout the region” (224).
In “The Fortune Teller,” a strange letter trembles the heart of the story’s protagonist, Camillo as he to understand the tone and meaning. The author, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, attempts to make the reader believe that the letter is very ambiguous. This devious letter is a symbol of Camillo’s inability to realize that the treacherous deeds he has committed in the dark have finally come to light. This letter will ultimately change his life forever something he never expected. Not thinking of the large multitude of possible adverse outcomes, he reads the letter. Frightened that he has ruined what should have never been started, he broods over his decision to love a married woman. In light of this, Camillo continues his dubious love affair with his best friend’s wife, unconvinced that he will ever get caught. “The Fortune Teller” focuses on an intimate affair between three people that ends in death due to a letter, and Camillo will not understand what the true consequences that the letter entails until he is face to face with his best friend, Villela.
The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes, author of The Death of Artemio Cruz, has used his novel to show how Mexico has been transformed and molded into its present state through the use of his character Artemio Cruz. Fuentes uses Cruz to bring together a historical truth about the greedy capital seekers, robber barons, if you will, who after the revolution brought Mexico directly back into the situation it was in before and during the Revolution. Fuentes wrote the novel in nineteen sixty-two, shortly after the Cuban Revolution. Fuentes is able to express his disappointment from the Mexican Revolution, the revolution by the people of his native land. The revolution seemed to change nothing for the average person in Mexico; the change that took place was merely a shift in power.
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
Rivas-Rojas, Raquel. “FABULAS DE ARRAIGO VICARIO EN LA NARRATIVA DE JULIA ALVAREZ. (Spanish).” Canadian Journal Of Latin American & Caribbean Studies 33.66 (2008): 157-169. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.