In The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz tells the story of Oscar Wao and his Dominican Family. The Dominican Republic(DR) in the 1930 to 1961 was run by Rafael Trujillo, a powerful dictator. Trujillos rule was considered one of the bloodiest eras in the Americas. His rule of the country was completely corrupt. Trujillos people would kill anyone with a foot out of line; his government had no rules. The country was run and dominated by men. The dictatorship created misogynistic, power hungry, violent licentious men. The setting of Trujillo dictatorship was destructive to the men in the Dominican Republic and encourage masculine dominated attitudes. The first man in the Wao family that was influenced by the masculine attitudes …show more content…
was Abelard. Abelard was Oscar's grandfather who lived at the beginning of the Trujillo reign. He was a well respected doctor in the Dominican republic and his daughter, Jacqueline was a smart young women more interested in Marie Curie than anything else. When his daughter reached puberty his greatest stress was for his daughter's safety. “Hiding your doe-eyed, large breasted daughter from Trujillo, was anything but easy (217).” The fact that Abelard had to hide his daughter for fear she would be raped demonstrated the disgusting nature of the men in the Dominican Republic. Referring to Trujillo, Yunior, the story’s narrator, said “Dude had hundreds of spies whose entire job was to scour the provinces for his next piece of ass (217).” Trujillo refers to women as objects. This confirms the misogynistic attitudes Trujillo enforces. Abelard eventually went crazy in fear and said something about Trujillo getting himself killed. In addition, Beli, Oscars mother, was involved with two men, Jack Pujos and a man only referred to as the Gangster who exploited her.
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
DR. Yunior family is from Dominican Republic although he now lives in New Jersey. Yunior the narrator of the story, describes women in a demeaning manner, treating them like objects. In Contrast Oscar Wao is much different from the typical Dominican republic male. Oscar was raised in New Jersy away from the violence of the Dominican Republic. Where laws seemed to actually exist. “Our hero was no one of those Dominican cats everybody’s going on about-he wasn’t no home-run hitter or fly bachatero, not a playboy with a million hits on his jock.(11)” Oscar was a nerd and He was different from the rest of them. In Oscars time of death he made a speech about love. Decades after the Trujillo reign is over, People in the Dominican Republic still commit the violent acts. Not only did the men mistreat women but they mistreated everyone. When Oscar visited the DR he fell in love with a girl named Ybon. Ybon was a prostitute from the DR whose boyfriend was captain of the police. Naturally, Oscar didn’t have a chance with her and their relationship was purely symbiotic. But one night they were driving back from a party and they were pulled over by Ybons boyfriend, she was inebriated and she kissed him in his car in front of her boyfriend. “The captain one of those tall, arrogant, acerbically handsome niggers that most of the planet feels inferior to. Also one of those very bad men that not even postmodernism can explain away.”(294)After that the Captain's men took Oscar away, brutally beat him and left him in a canefield. Yunior explains ”All I know it was the beating to end all beating.” It was only by a miracle that he survived. Until they found him again and really did kill him. It is socially acceptable in the DR to beat someone to death. The acceptance of act is the reason why men in the DR still behave that way. The men in the story are affected by the events that are happening around them. Not just Trujillo's but everything he caused and everything he stood for, had a lasting affect on the society. As Lola Oscar's sister said “Ten million trujillo's is all we are.(324)” Referring to all the people in the Dominican Republic. The dictatorship of Trujillo and the power he held will always be in Dominican Republic.
The rule of Rafael Trujillo directly affected Patricia Mirabal. Patricia grew up as the oldest of four girls, and she was naturally the nicest, simplest of the four girls. She married early and had kids before she turned 20. But as she grew older, her faith was restored. One day she went on a church retreat into the mountains, the same day the first invasion from Trujillo fell. The author described how it seemed as if the Earth was coming down upon the very roof of that retreat house. Explosion after explosion ripped the air. The house shook to its very foundation (Alvarez 161). During that attack, Patricia made eye contact with a young boy who couldn’t be older than her own son in the
get older they start to realize what is really going on in the Dominican Republic. This book takes you
In the early 1930’s, the Dominican Republic elected a new president by the name of Rafael Trujillo. Rafael Trujillo was a ruthless and selfish dictator even before he won the election. To win the election, he used his connections to kill supporters of the opposing candidates. Rafael Trujillo used his powers to oppress and murder masses of people (2 ”Rafael Trujillo”). Even though he was initially seen as a beneficial leader, Rafael Trujillo was proven to be an evil dictator.
The novel In The Times of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, consists of a frame narrative told by the only Mirabal sister to survive the reign of Trujillo, Dede Mirabal. This story takes place in the Dominican Republic all the way back in 1938, leading up to the “present” time in 1994. At this time in the Dominican Republic, the country is being ruled by a man named Trujillo, and he is making their homeland an unsafe and horrible place. The Mirabal sisters’ participation in the political movement against Trujillo led to their murder on November 25, 1960. Their action was symbolized as a threat to Trujillo dictatorship, which eventually led to their death.The conclusion that can be taken to assume that the Mirabal sisters were murdered is Minerva
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina is without a doubt one of the most known figures within the Dominican history. The “Era de Trujillo” (The Trujillo Era) occupied the Dominican Republic for the long period of thirty-one years. His dictatorship started in 1930 and ended with his assassination on May 30, 1961. Trujillo’s Career began with the occupation of the United States in 1916. During this time he was trained in a military school, and became part of the National Police, a military group made by the Unites States to maintain order in the Dominican Republic . Trujillo stood out during his military career and rapidly ascended within the military ranges. Under the government of Horatio Vasquez Trujillo received the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was put in charge of chiefs and assistant commanders of the National Police . This new position gave him the opportunity to be part of the overthrowing of Horatio Vasquez. Trujillo was sworn into presidency on August 16, 1930. Marking the beginning of what is known as the cruel, violent and controversial part of history in the Dominican Republic.
Upon returning to the Dominican Republic after many years, Yolanda decides to take a trip across the island––something her family views as ridiculous. “‘This is not the states’ . . . ‘A woman just doesn’t travel alone in this country.” (9) This quote highlights the sexism inherent in Dominican society. Yolanda’s family is asserting that women are not individuals capable of taking care of themselves. On another hand, Yolanda’s close friendship with Mundín causes tensions as their mothers confront them about crossing gender lines. “My mother disapproved. The outfit would only encourage my playing with Mundín and the boy cousins. It was high time I got over my tomboy phase and started acting like a young lady señorita. ‘But it is for girls,’ . . . ‘boys don’t wear skirts.’” (228) This is an example of how Dominican societal norms and gender roles have impacted the sisters. Yolanda and Mundín were the only boy-girl playmates out of all the García children, yet this was frowned upon by both of their parents as to not impede the seemingly inevitable growth of Yolanda’s femininity, and conversely, Mundín’s masculinity. Moreover, this shows how societally-prescribed gender roles were instilled in Yolanda at a young age. However, this is not the only way in which women’s freedoms are
In 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 from girls. This phase persists throughout his life and he never develops out of the nerdy boy he was as a child. The Dominican Republic was a hostile and poor place during the time of the novel. The dictator Trujillo controls the lives of the people in the country. This influenced the de Leon family’s present and future. Diaz develops the story by using the superstition, the cane field, and male dominance of the Dominican men
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.
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
Trujillo use of violence and challenge of political authority demonstrated that from the very beginning he created an insurgency regime within his military ranks that oppressed his country. Which 30 years later, his own military generals and freedom fighters will be the very ones to end his reign. To this very day, some of the Dominican people whether living in the United States or Dominican Republic are hesitate to talk about it, but are glad that it is in the past and
Rafael Trujillo was the infamous dictator of the Dominican Republic. He was often feared by some and loved by others. Trujillo often attracted followers by utilizing his sexual intrigue. He would take advantage of woman to boost his political power and to put his subjugates on a higher pedestal . Trujillo also changed the “common Dominican household”, with this being he aided in changing the gender relations between males and females. Trujillo also utilized the infamous trait that various men from Latin America take pride, Machismo. With this being said Trujillo utilized gender relation, sexual intrigue and machismo to his favor to get the citizens to jump on his bandwagon causing them to legitimately agree with his regime.
The Dominican Republic under the Trujillo regime was considered one of the most violent eras ever in the Americas. In The Time of The Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, commemorates the lives of Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal. These women were known as “Las Mariposas” because of their direct involvement in an underground revolution against Trujillo. In the story, the Mirabel sisters are women with childhoods, hopes, and dreams, who fight for the liberation of their country. After their assassination, they became symbols of freedom and revolution for persecuted peoples all over the world. The Mirabal sisters not only fought against the Trujillo regime, but also opposed the unfair gender roles of that time. In the Dominican Republic,
Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina reigned over the Dominican Republic in a dictatorship, extending over thirty years. He is known as having been the “most ruthless dictator in Latin America.” However, there is another side to the story. Trujillo was the third son of a humble sheep herder and worked as a sugar plantation guard in his adolescent years. He enlisted in the United States Marines Corp during the U.S.’s occupation in the Dominican Republic. He built himself up to National Commander and claimed presidency in 1930. He was a man known to be surrounded by “a surfeit of booze, women, wealth, power, and enemies.” Until his final years, he was admired by the Dominican people and seen as a demi-god and savior. During his first prosperous years
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). Trujillo put so much fear into the people of the Dominican Republic that Beli did not know it would ever affect her. In a world where no one gives her such feelings, the Gangster makes Beli feel beautiful. But, the Gangster is a pimp and exploits women, which shows the degradation of women such as Beli.