The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The genre of Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, is magical realism, a subgenre of realistic fiction which incorporates elements of fantasy and myth....

At the beginning, Oscar is portrayed as being predominantly interested in girls, and this is something that does not change throughout the book, but merely grows in intensity. After going from...

The Gangster is married to the sister of Dominican dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujillo. It is not explicitly explained why he married her, but we can make some educated guesses. First, we are told...

According to Yunior, the narrator of much of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the whole story itself is an account of fuku, the curse that has plagued the De Leon and Cabral families for so...

In Juno Diaz's novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Yunior narrates the story about the Cabrals to both illustrate the idea that a single perspective for any story is flawed by definition...

The answer is found in the quote preceding the book: "either I'm nobody or I'm a nation." Obviously, the answer is "a nation," and we have multiple narrators--a nation, if you will--to reflect...

In the final pages of Juno Diaz's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Yunior, the story's main narrator, uses dashes instead of words in places to complete his...

I'll start by outlining the similarities between these two relationships and then the differences. Both relationships exhibit the toxicity of Dominican masculinity. Yunior appears to have true and...

In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, most of the familial relationships are explored through the fuku, the family curse, as well as the traumatic and polarizing moments surrounding...

Near the beginning of The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, it is mentioned that Oscar's sister, Lola was raped by a neighbor when she was eight years old. Interestingly, this is said by the...

The extensive use of footnotes in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is certainly one of the more unusual parts of the narrative. In a 2008 interview, author Junot Diaz explained why he included...

What a great question! I think that there is more than one answer, but a few likely theories come to mind. Aside from just a stylistic choice (meaning that Junot Diaz maybe just liked the sound...

Directly, once. This incident occurs after he finds Jenni committing adultery. Oscar drinks heavily and then decides that due to the curse (fuku), he should throw himself off a bridge. However,...

Yunior has a rather ambivalent relationship with Lola. While he thoroughly adores her, he somehow finds it impossible to remain faithful to her. It is unknown whether this is a product of his...

La Inca is the cousin of Beli's father, Abelard. So technically speaking, they would be considered second cousins. But of course, their true relationship is much more like mother and daughter. On...

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the first chapter is narrated by an unknown narrator in the third person. While the narrator is not introduced to the reader, it is clear through his...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao begins with poet Derek Walcott's lines: “I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me, and either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation.” So, Diaz's focus is on cultural...

Regarding this passage from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz, there are some important literary devices of which to make note. The first line makes use of inference, which is...

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz filters his themes of family, love, alienation, and violence through multiple narrators (mainly Yunior). In an interview, Diaz said: I felt...

In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz switches perspectives from chapter to chapter to offer a broader outlook on the events of the story and to better develop each of the...

Diaz shifts not only back and forth in time, but also between different narrators, for a couple of different reasons. First, the book itself focuses on Oscar, but it is also the story of his...

Consider the following: Beli and Lola are very similar in terms of personality. How does this cause difficulties between the two women? How is Oscar different from his mother? How do these...

The footnotes in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao serve as a guidepost to make the novel more accessible, without becoming academic and dry. Oscar Wao's story is one that lacks luck,...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a 2007 novel written by Dominican-American author Junot Díaz. The fictional narrative is a tour de force in the exploration of gender roles and the idea of...

Earlier the three dashes are used by Oscar to stand for words he dare not say, lest he be cursed by the fuku: "I Love You." I think the Mongoose is saying the same thing. The Mongoose sees Oscar...

Chapter 1 focuses on Oscar's early years. When he was seven, Oscar was adorable and charming, and he had two girlfriends at once. He is eventually forced to choose between them, and he chooses the...

With feelings for Lola at Rutgers, a weight lifter and playboy friend of hers decides to be Oscar’s roommate, and Oscar calls him “Yunior.” Oscar writes books, plays his games, and continues to...

Junot Díaz, through Yunior’s narration, presents Oscar Wao as a creative, sensitive boy whose identity is shaped as much by obesity as by national and cultural heritage. Living in New York as a...

Oscar achieves the American Dream without ever really recognizing it. The American Dream as a concept is really centered around the freedom to pursue success uninhibited by social class...

When the mongoose first appears in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Diaz includes a footnote that says "the Mongoose has proven itself to be an enemy of kingly chariots, chains, and...

Oscar moves home after college and teaches at his old high school. The students ridicule him, and Oscar again falls in and out of despair. Oscar experiences a lot during a summer in Santo Domingo,...

There are three important women in the novel: La Inca, Beli, and Lola. Each are strong women who battle each other, men, the fuku, their past, their color, and--most importantly--stereotypes (or...

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz presents two sides of Dominican gendered culture as it exists in New York and in the Dominican Republic. The author suggests that rigid ideas...

In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Oscar is obsessed with the science fiction and fantasy genres. Overall, Oscar has a tendency to become obsessed with things that interest him...

Throughout the text, Yunior tries to teach Oscar everything from how to eat properly to how to get women. Most of what he teaches does not stick, but the lesson that takes root in Oscar's mind is...

Yunior is Oscar Wao’s best friend. He is also the narrator in many of Junot Diaz’s short stories in Drown and This Is How You Lose Her. Oscar is the novel’s protagonist. At once brilliant, caustic,...

Junot Diaz opens his novel of clashing cultures, stereotypes, dreams of a better life and the curse of the doomed with a description of an ancient African curse that plays a prominent role in The...

Lola is the sister of Oscar, the main character in The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Lola is Oscar's older sister and, as such, she is very protective of him. This behavior is a stark...

Yunior and the family come down to Santo Domingo to claim Oscar’s body. The family arranges the funeral, but no one else comes. Beli's cancer finally takes hold while La Inca sells her home and...

The theme that is raised in this novel that can be clearly related to the above quote is that of how Oscar is presented as a kind of anti-hero in this novel. He is perhaps one of the most unlikely...

According to Yunior, the narrator of much of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the whole story itself is an account of fuku, the curse that has plagued the De Leon and Cabral families for so...

Juxtaposition can be understood as a writer’s choice to place two different things next to one another to highlight how they are similar or different. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,...

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao can be interpreted as a straightforward novel with a plot and character development, or it can be seen through the lens of different fictional genres, primarily...

It's fair to say that Oscar doesn't have much luck with the opposite sex. From an early age, he's awkward around girls, which makes him the subject of ridicule among his peers. He tries to...

Junot Diaz’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tells the story of Oscar De León, who, like Diaz, is a Dominican growing up in New Jersey. One theme explored in...

Beli (Oscar’s mother) is young and living well in the Dominican Republic with La Inca. Beli attends the best school and hates it, becoming defensive, belligerent, and lonely. Men notice Beli only...