Summary: The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz paints the life and death of its protagonist, Oscar Wao, as narrated by his foil and friend, Yunior. Junot Díaz creates dual character arcs that portrays both Oscar and Yunior’s coming of age stories as they function within one another throughout the novel. These defined maturation moments can be seen throughout the execution of each character’s goals, and the lessons that both Oscar and Yunior teach each other throughout the narrative. Oscar Wao, described as a Dominican boy cast from Dominican hypermasculinity, spends his entire young life chasing after girls, and pursuing futile love affairs. Oscar arguably sees his retribution immediately before his death after he loses his virginity. The

narrator of the story, Yunior, matures by telling Oscar’s story, and learning lessons from Oscar’s life.
Oscar Wao is not your typical Dominican boy. In fact, Junot Díaz portrays Oscar as a very “un-Dominican” male (11). By portraying a character that is completely emasculated while still retaining the male gender, Junot Díaz paints Oscar as a character that cannot get ahead in any socially or culturally respected way, especially through the conquest of sexual redemption. Oscar is placed on the lowest rung of the ladder encompassing males within the novel. Oscar’s place within typical Dominican society launches him on a journey to find belonging and love. His goals of achieving his manhood with women can be traced back to his childhood. For a child who had “girlfriends galore,” Oscar’s love affairs with the girls he surrounds himself with as a child fall apart, leaving a still seemingly typical Dominican boy, lonely and falling out of the mold (12). Though Oscar’s mother, Beli, advocates the use of violence for Oscar to assert his dominance over women, Yunior argues that Oscar lacks the capabilities to assert himself as a typical Dominican male. Yunior explains, “It wasn’t just that he didn’t have no kind of father to show him the masculine ropes, he simply lacked all aggressive and martial tendencies” (15). According to Yunior, Because Oscar had “zero combat rating,” he was unable to fill the casing of what a man is really supposed to be, and must conquer this weakness in order to come of age (15).
In his adolescence, Oscar, by now an overweight, dorky, and unattractive teen, has fallen out of the frame of the traditional Dominican “muchacho” (13). Oscar, rather, is portrayed as having a faithful nature. He obsesses himself with women and concentrates on the positive aspects and beauties of feminineness, whereas, in contrast, Dominican society would require Oscar to exhibit more forcefulness in his relationships with women (279). Because Oscar does not fit the cast of the ‘Dominican man,’ he begins to fall behind socially. Al and Miggs, Oscar’s best high school friends, get girlfriends and exclude Oscar from their lives. Oscar, beginning to realize that even his best friends believe he is somewhat of a loser plagued by “antipussy devices,” develops a new desire for human connection on a deep, romantic level that Oscar will pursue up until his death (18). His thirst for love and affection is followed by an honest and, if anything, overly persistent quest to quench his thirst for manhood. This quest is seen externally from those around him. An example of Oscar’s overtly apparent desire for love and connection is seen as Yunior narrates an instance where Marisol and Leticia tease Oscar about his looks. After Leticia compliments Oscar to boost his morale, Marisol shoots him right back down by stating, “Now he’ll probably write a book about you” (27). Though Oscar maintains an inherently good-natured personality and faithful disposition, the world around him misinterprets and dismisses his desires and goals as creepy and obsessive.
Despite being misunderstood by the world surrounding him, Oscar continues to pursue his goals of love, sex, and maturity. His determination for love takes the shape of a friendly relationship with Ana Obregón, a girl in Oscar’s SAT class. After Oscar returns from visiting his Nena Inca in Santo Domingo, he becomes close friends with Ana. Oscar’s gradual infatuation with Ana proves to be fruitless as her boyfriend, Manny, returns from the army and the amount of time that Ana spends with Oscar wilts to nothing. Oscar takes a course of action that echoes the extremities of many of the sexual obsessions he holds throughout the novel. Though Ana Obregon is already a taken woman, Oscar asserts his position in her life by taking drastic measures. Oscar stands outside Manny’s house waiting for him with Rudolfo’s stolen .44 Colt. As he waits, he convinces himself that Manny has been putting Ana through many tortures, portraying himself as the savior and guardian of a girl he has only known for a few months. Oscar exclaims, “come on, motherfucker. I got a nice 11 year old girl for you” (47). A statement made by Yunior allows for further analysis of Oscar’s mental state. Yunior states, “he [Oscar] didn't care that he’d more than likely be put away forever”(47). Rather, Oscar simply wanted what he believed to be his, Ana’s love. Yunior’s narration and specific description of Oscar waiting outside in the dark with a gun, evokes a sense that Oscar’s not only finds obsessions with girls, but in fact does maintain an aspect of dangerous, delusional logic, which ultimately gets him killed after he comes of age. The imagery that Yunior employs in painting this overnight stakeout serves as a reminder that Oscar has not only fallen out of the mold of a typical Dominican man, but also that of a mentally healthy member of society.
Oscar’s coming of age is made evident before he dies. Yunior reveals a final letter written by Oscar that he managed to send out right before his death. Ybon, a girl Oscar had been involved with, and who’s complicated relationship with another man, The Captain, had gotten Oscar killed, engaged in intercourse with Oscar before he died, thus concluding Oscar’s coming of age story. This letter provides Yunior, at least, with the knowledge that Oscar got to reach his maturation, and partake in something he had been pursuing his entire life. Yunior exclaims, “Praise be to Jesus!” as he describes the scene of intimacy between Oscar and Ybon (334). Yunior’s exclamation to Jesus suggests that Oscar’s pursuit of sex is indeed more than just an obsession; it is the means by which Oscar lives his life, and pursues his ultimate goal. The emphasis that Yunior places on Oscar’s intercourse with Ybon provides evidence that sex served as a crucial goal for Oscar, and though he lived a short, rather unfulfilling life, Oscar got to make the right of passage of dying a ‘man’. As Oscar makes his way through his complicated, brief, and seemingly insatiable life, Yunior provides a detailed account of every defining moment. Meanwhile, Yunior’s narration of Oscar’s life and family is the culmination of Yunior’s own coming of age, one fueled by intense guilt and admiration of the lessons Oscar has unknowingly taught Yunior over the years.
Oscar and Yunior are character foils that define two different types of masculinity.

While Oscar serves as an antithesis to manly Dominican nature, Yunior fully encapsulates every aspect of it. Díaz describes Yunior as an unfaithful man who has rampant and meaningless sex with many women and can “bench 340 pounds,” further emphasizing Yunior’s masculinity (170). Though Yunior can be identified as a rather unfeeling character, Oscar teaches Yunior many lessons about alternative forms of manhood that Oscar possesses and Yunior does not. Yunior finds himself influenced by Oscar’s nonviolent ways with women. While Oscar is inserted into Yunior’s life, it becomes apparent that many of Oscar’s shortcomings include everything that Yunior takes pride in lacking. These weaknesses include, emotional instability, faithfulness, sincerity, and being overweight. Yunior’s nature forces him to combat the existence of Oscar’s obvious shortcomings within his own life by maintaining a competitive edge, working out profusely, and continuing to hit on women and sleep with them. Yunior accepts an offer to room with Oscar at Rutgers as a favor to Oscar’s sister Lola, whom Yunior hopes to romance. At first, Lola seems to be Yunior’s only goal, leaving Oscar as a means to Yunior’s end goal of seducing Lola. However, Yunior is a playboy, a foil to Oscar, and recognizes Oscar’s “un-Dominican” nature (11). Yunior recognizes Oscar’s inability to fit in and takes Oscar under his wing. Yunior offers Oscar advice on how to get girls though he too believes that Oscar is too fat and nerdy to get a girl. Oscar becomes Yunior’s project after Yunior’s girlfriend, Suriyan, dumps him. Here, Yunior’s priorities shift and his coming of age begins to function within Oscar’s life and

death.
Throughout Yunior’s period of working on Oscar as a project, they live a routine together. They eat, sleep, and workout together, and Oscar even receives advice on how to hit on girls from Yunior. Yunior explains, “Did I try to help him with his girl situation? Share some of my playerly wisdom? Of course I did. The problem was… my roommate was like no one on the planet” (173). Yunior’s statement results in an understanding that Oscar is miserably hopeless with women. However, Oscar begins to prove Yunior wrong.
Following Oscar introduction to Jenni, a girl who Yunior describes as being extremely attractive, Oscar seizes the opportunity to become close friends with her. Yunior is flustered that Oscar got the opportunity to “spend time with such a fly bitch” (184). Yunior concedes that “of course it did” bother him (184). Yunior is absorbed by the fact that Oscar is able to obtain a friendship with an attractive girl who rejected Yunior in the past and Yunior ultimately gains an envy of Oscar’s ability to maintain platonic conversation and relationships with women.
Yunior does not only find himself enamored with Oscar’s ability to maintain friendly relationships with women, but also he finds himself envious of Oscar’s ability to write intelligently. Yunior describes that Oscar “Picked up his writings, five books to date, and tried to read some. Even I could tell he had chops. He could write dialogue, crack snappy exposition, and keep the narrative moving” (173). This quote displays the true admiration Yunior maintains for Oscar’s writing abilities as he writes and narrates Oscar’s own stories himself. Yunior sees alternative traits of manhood within Oscar, effectively placing Oscar higher on the ladder of male power than initially anticipated. Yunior explains in a footer, “What is it with Dictators and Writers, anyway? ...Rushdie claims that tyrants and scribblers are natural antagonists, but I think that’s too simple; it lets writers off pretty easy” (97). This places Oscar in a position of power similar to that of the Dominican dictator, Trujillo, and other Dominican males within the narrative. Oscar had never been associated with such power and manliness until this realization. This infers that Oscar was indeed a man throughout his life, and found himself forced to compensate for the norms that society had told him he must fulfill in order to be considered a true man.
Yunior achieves an indirect education from Oscar, even after Oscar’s death. Yunior claims that Oscar’s influence on him has helped him stop the plagues of typical Dominican nature, allowing Yunior to finally marry and settle down with a wife he claims he “doesn't deserve” (326). At the end of the novel, Yunior is notified of the fact that Oscar loses his virginity and manages to come of age before his death. Although this has been the focal point of Yunior’s narration throughout the book, he seems to dismiss it to discuss the ways in which he has changed himself. Yunior claims that “These days I write a lot…Learned that from Oscar. I’m a new man, you see, anew man, a new man” (326). Though Yunior has taken Oscar under his wing to teach him how to be a real man, Oscar is the one who inadvertently teaches Yunior the meaning of true manhood and allows Yunior to pass through his Dominican nature and become a true, “new” man (326). By scribing Oscar’s story, Yunior finds his redemption and ultimately comes of age.