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The brief wondrous life of oscar wao allusions
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The brief wondrous life of oscar wao allusions
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Love is a powerful force of nature. It is a feeling of passionate and deep affection. It is patient, kind, and honest. It has the ability to consume someone’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It serves as the foundation for numerous songs, poems, shows, and novels. However, the attributes of love in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao are depicted as a curse preying on the insecurities of relationships and a blessing embodying its beauty. Fukú, a curse, strikes the Dominican Republic and its inhabitants through violent acts of revenge, rage, and jealousy. The source of fukú’s power, nonetheless, is derived from the infamous dictator of the Dominican Republic, Trujillo. The dictator not only presided over all political, economic, and social …show more content…
Beli and Oscar become so overwhelmed with the beauty of their relationships that they are blind to any imperfections in their partner. Beli becomes involved with an older man, identified as the Gangster, who promises her a future filled with his affection. She naively presumes that he is faithful, however, she later discovers that he is married. The Gangster proves to embody traits of the fukú curse; not only due to his connection with Trujillo, but also from his inherent Dominican qualities. Beli is a victim of the aftermath of fukú that deems the typical Dominican man as susceptible to adultery and a fukú that destroys her relationship previously perceived as “the greatest gift.” Prior to learning of his marriage, Beli is oblivious to any signs of dishonesty as expressed by La Inca, her coworkers, and her neighborhood. The naivety of her heart hinders her ability to recognize his broken promises for a house and family in the future. Additionally, the Gangster’s wife seeks revenge by sending policemen to abort Beli’s child through physical abuse. She is assaulted to the extent that she nearly dies, nevertheless, the narrator recounts, “And in the gloaming of her dwindling strength there yawned a loneliness so total it was beyond death…And it was into that loneliness that she was sliding, and it was here that she would dwell forever, alone, black, fea…” (Díaz 148). As a result of Beli’s deep love for the Gangster, she is left emotionally and physically damaged. The affection she receives from the Gangster prior to finding out his relationship status allows Beli to find comfort in her own body. However, the repercussions of the relationship revert Beli to feelings of loneliness and low self-esteem. These effects create a lasting impact on her future relationships with men and her children. It is evident she detaches herself from fully dedicating her actions towards love since
With the relationship between Beli and La Inca, it would have been easy to write the relationship without any major issues. La Inca saved Beli from a terrible life and provided her with every resource Beli needed to succeed. Even with the cards in their favor, they still had a rocky relationship. Beli disobeyed La Inca often, especially when it came to boys, and really put a damper on their relationship. With all of the complexity that came with their relationship, it was obvious that she still loved her mother because she sent her children to spend time with La Inca, know that La Inca would help them in all the ways that La Inca helped Beli. The trials that Beli faced with La Inca bled into her relationship with Lola. Lola turned out to be very similar to Beli, falling in love with a guys who was not good for her and disobeying her mother. Their issues stemmed from the differences in where they were raised and the time in which they were raised. Beli was raised in the Dominican Republic in a time that was very difficult. Beli’s history of abuse combined with being raised in the DR, prevented her from being the mother Lola wanted. Junot Diaz used the struggles caused by history and culture to write complex mother/daughter
In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Junot Diaz shows how the Dominican Republic influenced the superstitions, the Cane fields, and the male dominance. In the end Oscar dies because of the love he spent his life searching for. He sees that he gained it but at the cost of his life. He expresses the happiness of love in the end right before he died. The rest of the family deals with the death of Oscar differently. Beli’s loses her will to fight and the cancer returns and she dies ten months later. Lola and Yunior relationship never restarts and both get married to other people and have children. They only see each other occasionally and only speak of Oscar.
We may believe were not in no form of isolation from a single thing but we are all in isolation without notice. In the book “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar wao” by Junot Diaz, he shows isolation in every character in a very distinct way but still not noticeable. Throughout the Brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao, Diaz conveys that there is isolation in every person through his characters that are all different in personalization but are still isolated from something.
Love and Violence The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz covers the issue of Love and Violence thoroughly throughout the book, and shows how anger and love influence the impulsive and reckless decisions the characters make. Searching for Zion, by Emily Raboteau on the other hand, shows that love comes in different forms and may be easily misunderstood. Abelard, Belicia, Lola, and Emily show love can be a devastating force if not handled carefully and, can be very dangerous. As others commonly have, Oscar confuses passion or lust with love, which in many ways can be critical when conveyed in violence.
Now, in modern times, affairs seem to be a natural phenomenon of daily life. They are popularly seen in movies, novelas—soap operas and also expressed through literature. Although they are conventionally characterized as passionate and exciting, they can also catalyze a lot of thought and uncertainty for the individuals involved. “Migration” written by Rosa Alcala is a poem that takes a different approach in describing what an affair is. In her poem she rather focuses on describing the stressful cognitive affects that occur as a result of being involved in an affair. Through figures of speech, persona and images the author is able to establishes the feeling of the poem as cautious uncertainty.
Rather, it criticizes this culture through its portrayal of women. The narrative is focused on a male and is told by a male, which reflects the male-centered society it is set in. However, when we compare how the narrator views these women to who they really are, the discrepancies act as a critique on the Dominican culture. Yunior, who represents the typical Dominican male, sees women as objects, conquests, when in fact their actions show their resistance to be categorized as such. Beli, whose childhood was filled with male domination by Trujillo and the family she worked for, attempts to gain power through sexuality, the avenue the culture pushes women toward. This backfires, creating a critique of the limited opportunities available for women. La Inca portrays a different side to this, working quietly but in ways that are not socially acceptable through self-employment. Society attempts to cage these women, but they continue to fight against it. Diaz, in an interview, quoted James Baldwin, stating, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced" (Fassler). He exhibits the misogyny in the system but does not support it, rather critiques it through strong female characters. By drawing attention to the problem, the novel advocates for change. Diaz writes, at the end of part 1, “Nothing more exhilarating… than saving yourself by the simple act of waking”
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
Both these men were greatly influenced by Trujillo. Oscars mother Beli was naive and good looking and in the DR that is an open invitation to mistreatment. Jack Pujos dated Beli in high school. When they got in trouble for fornicattiing in a closet, Jack blamed the entire incident on Beli and it was revealed Jack was engaged. “Legally, he was too young to drive, but do you think anybody in Santo Domingo stopped a colonel’s son for anything? Especially the son of a colonel who was said to be one of Ramfis Trujillo's confidents.” (99) Jack’s close relationship with Trujillo caused Jack to become entitled and lacked concern for others because he knew he could get away with anything. Later the Gangster came along. Beli and him had a year long relationship. The gangster promised marriage and when Beli became pregnant it was then revealed that the gangster was married. Yunior stated “The gangster’s wife was - drum roll, please- Trujillo's fucking sister! (139)” Once the gangster's wife found out about Beli, she was brutally beaten and left in the canefields. Two men picked her up in their car and broke almost all the bones in her body, raped her and killed her baby. Only by a supernatural miracle she survived.Yunior stated “it was the sort of beating that breaks people, breaks them utterly. (147)” The brutality of the beating proves the violence and cruelty of the men in the
Her foundation of love for The Gangster started in a peculiar manner. It started with Beli throwing her drink at a guy who grabbed her arm at the nightclub after he offered to buy her a drink. Oddly enough, she returned a few nights later and asked to dance with him. It’s apparent that The Gangster is not a good man, “Skilled our Gangster became in many a perfidy, but where our man truly excelled, where he smashed records and grabbed gold, was in the flesh trade. Then, like now, Santo Domingo was to popóla [slang for female genitalia] what Switzerland was to chocolate. And there was something about the binding, selling, and degradation of women that brought out the best in The Gangster; he had an instinct for it, a talent – call him the Caracaracol of Culo [Trickster of Ass]” (Diaz 121) yet Beli still falls for him. Their relationship is complicated to say the least and starts having adverse ramifications on Beli’s life. La Inca isn’t very happy with everything that Beli is doing and sees her lifestyle as disrespectful to her Beli’s parents. After The Gangster gets her pregnant, she is ecstatic, thinking that she can get married to the goon. The Gangster does not reciprocate this same attraction but he continues to play her. Her obsession over The Gangster leads to Beli getting kidnapped and nearly having her baby forcefully aborted. She is
Exploring Love in Much Ado About Nothing In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare depicts different kinds of loving relationships - romantic love, family support and loyal friendship - and shows how various characters react to love and marriage. By exploring the effects of this powerful emotion Shakespeare highlights its universal relevance, a relevance that transcends time. The main plot of Much Ado About Nothing is that of the relationship between Claudio and Hero. Their story is a melodramatic saga concerning the realities of relationships based on love at first sight.
Beli’s impulses allow her to ignore the fact that falling atomically in love with the Gangster, a man she meets in a luxurious nightclub, is wrong. In a world where no one gives her such feeling, the Gangster makes Beli feel beautiful. But, the Gangster is a pimp and exploits women, which shows the degradation of women such as Beli. The Trujillo system in the Dominican Republic, under which the Cabaral’s are associated with, exploits women and the Gangster, just like Trujillo did exactly that. This path of life that Beli embarks on is the wrong choice because it is plagued with the fukú. She sees the Gangster as an escape out of her current life because he is extremely rich. The Gangster promises her a house in Miami with as many bedrooms as she wants. Beli is naïve and does not realize that the Gangster cannot help her escape her life that she is unhappy with. Instead all the Gangster can bring to Beli is bad luck. The Gangster ends up being married to Trujillo’s sister, who is extremely cruel and lives up to the name of Trujillo. The Gangster’s wife has Beli beaten until she almost dies. Beli is vulnerable because the Gangster has power over her; she truly believes that he is an escape from her Dominican world. All along La Inca sees otherwise and tells Beli that she is crazy. La Inca also implies that a man cannot save her, but Beli continues to make
A reoccurring them in the novel of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is sex which is viewed as a rite of passage. Sex is extremely apparent in the book which shows the importance it has within the Dominican culture. According to the narrator Yunior, sex is tremendously engrained in the Dominican culture so much that accordingly to legend “No Dominican has died a virgin” (??). Since sex is culturally embedded into their lives, Oscar is considered an outcast compared to the more
Love is powerful and could change a person’s personality. In “The Book of Unknown Americans”, the author Christina Hernriquez tells us the definition of love. It is a book combined with different stories but each story is connected to others. It talks about the immigrants that moved to America with lots of hope, but didn’t end up with a happy ending. The story is about love, hope and guilt and different kinds of emotional feeling. In the book, Mayor has an internal change because of Maribel, and the power of love. He wants to be a strong man who can protect Maribel. He used to be someone who couldn’t defend himself and he changed because of Maribel.
There is no doubt that wealth and love is a luxury not everyone is able to afford and this can create a tremendous advantage for those fortunate enough to have both. People are intrinsically eager and hungry for affluence or love and they will stop at no point until their satisfaction is fully achieved. This story unravels the importance of family and camaraderie because when there is no supply of money, friendship is all one has left in times of war and this bond will ultimately have a greater effect on an individual than any materialistic luxury good. Through Fukunaga 's story, I learned that love within a family creates feelings that can never be obtained through money alone and even though the rich seem to have more power than the poor, it will be those that live a struggling life, who prevail in the
In The Lover, Duras tells the largely autobiographical story of a fifteen-year-old French girl’s amazing love affair with an older Chinese man in Vietnam, the place colonized by France during the 1930s. “She” was just a young girl attending a boarding school, living with an abnormal family, which had a life poor as beggars and violent as gangsters; “he” is the son of a Chinese millionaire, and settled in the colonies as one of “the financiers of Chinese origin who own all the working-class housing” (Duras 33). They meet each other on the ferry crossing the Mekong and on that day they start an unusual relationship. Such plot sounds like an ordinary love story—“She” is fragile and helpless while “he” is the symbol of power and wealth and has a strong sense of protecting her. They fall in love at the first sight and look forward to their everyday meeting. Then how could “The Lover” become an exception from the general standard love relationship? The phenomenon of cross-racial dating is too superficial to make the story rebellious, but the real consciousness behind the race—which known as stereotype—works.