Dec 25, 2009
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the 2007 novel by author Junot Díaz, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, along with multiple other awards. This modern-day tale of an unlikely hero takes readers on the dark journey of a contemporary immigrant.
The novel's main character, Oscar de Léon, is a "ghetto nerd" from a family of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Plagued by the fukú curse brought upon the aboriginal people of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, Oscar portrays himself as a hero in search of his personal Grail—a "pure and unadulterated love." Obsessed with science fiction and fantasy, Oscar is alienated in his lower-class community. Throughout high school, and into his teaching career, he is the victim of the narrow perspectives of those without his imagination and vision.
Told from the point of view of Oscar’s sister Lola and his best friend Yunior, this tale of the search for redemption leads the reader through the darkest corners of a country under dictatorial control. Lola seeks her own redemption, away from her family and her heritage. She loves only her younger brother Oscar and seeks to protect him from the curse that tragically affects their family.
Yunior, his best friend and college roommate, does not quite understand Oscar, yet loves him just the same and sees that there is something within Oscar that begs to be understood. As the primary narrator of the novel, Yunior provides a loving portrait of a tortured soul within a tortured family. The redemption of Oscar’s “brief wondrous life” comes at a significant, but justified, price.
In the section "The Golden Age," Junot Díaz introduces the novel’s hero, Oscar de Léon. Oscar is "a Dominican boy raised in a relatively 'normal' Dominican family." Even at the relatively young age of seven, he begins taking a keen interest in girls. He is a great hit at parties, where he entertains adults who force his attention on any girl his age. His mother is proud of his premature display of manliness.
Once, Oscar even has two girlfriends at the same time—Maritza Chacon and Olga Polanca. However, this "threesome lasted only a week." Maritza insists that Oscar choose between herself and Olga. Oscar does not find it difficult to choose Maritza, because she is more beautiful than Olga. Olga cries her heart out when Oscar breaks up with her, but Oscar responds nonchalantly by saying, "Don't be a baby."
However, the Monday after he breaks up with Olga, he sees Maritza at the bus stop holding hands with another boy, Nelson Pardo. Maritza refuses to smile at Oscar and pretends that she does not even see him. At first, Oscar does not believe his eyes, but when he hears Maritza tell Nelson that they should get married, he sits down on the curb and begins to cry. He is still crying when he boards the school bus, which arrives shortly.
The rejection by Maritza affects him deeply: "his life shot straight down the tubes." In two years, he grows fatter and fatter and consequently avoids any contact with girls because they find him repulsive: "he did not kiss another girl for a long, long time." Olga is similarly affected, and she too becomes fat and repulsive: "even her breasts, when they finally emerged, were huge and scary." However, Maritza becomes prettier and prettier: "Maritza blew up into the flyest girl in Paterson, New Jersey."
The second section, "The Moronic Inferno," deals with Oscar's high school life at Don Bosco Tech. Oscar finds life at this all-boys Catholic school run by the Salesian Fathers and Brothers stressful. In his sophomore year, Oscar weighs two hundred and ten pounds, which would increase by another ten pounds whenever he was depressed. At school, he is like most other kids; "throughout high school he did the usual ghetto nerd things." His main interest is "the end of the world," and he voraciously reads all the available books on that topic. However, there is one very serious shortcoming: "he didn't date no one. Didn't even come close." This is despite the fact that he is internally a very passionate and affectionate lover. Sadly, no girl in the neighborhood is aware of his capacity for love and affection.
His virginity and lack of girlfriends are often topics of discussion at home. Everyone has advice to offer him. Oscar's sister, Lola, warns him rather ominously, "You're going to die a virgin."
Oscar's sister, who had been raped by a senior when she was only in the sixth grade, is well versed in matters concerning love and sex. She cuts her hair short and is quite a rebel who would "say anything to anybody." She often advises Oscar, who true to his character would not listen to her. The main narrator of the novel later gets to date Lola in college. Currently however, Lola is dating "a failed welter weight Golden Gloves boxer." Lola's three friends—Gladys, Marisol, and Leticia—also date macho, weight-lifting types. The three "sex kittens" provide enough titillation for Oscar when they visit his sister. Much to Oscar's discomfort, completely oblivious of his presence but well within his hearing, they loudly prattle on and on about their sex lives.
The third section, "Oscar Is Brave," describes Oscar's disappointment at not getting a girlfriend in his senior year at Don Bosco Tech, and his simmering jealousy of his two video-game-playing friends, Al and Miggs, who succeed in doing so.
One day, Al brags that he met his girl by chance for the first time at the Menlo Park Mall. She informed him that another friend of hers was desperately in need of a boyfriend. So Al introduces Miggs to his newly acquired girlfriend, who does the rest. Oscar comes to know of this only a week later when they are in... » Complete The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Summary
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