would say the vilest shit to him on the street, old ladies would jabber. You’re disgusting, disgusting, and even Melvin, who’d never shown much in the way of anti-Oscar tendencies, started ! calling him Jabba the Butt, just because.”

Science fiction and fantasy genres allow him to escape into fictional worlds to find comfort and adventure, although he eventually also wants to have his own adventure. Oscar has little to resort to other than the science fiction and fantasy genres and playing video games. The author explicitly states that he had no other options.

“What were his options? O had to do something. Twenty- four/ seven at a computer, writing sci-fi monsterpieces, darting out to the Student Center every now and then to play video games, talking about girls but never actually touching one — what kind of life was that?”

Oscar’s tendency to become obsessed with things that he likes also leads to his obsession with Ybon by the end of the novel. The narrator writes that Oscar “wanted to run over to Ybon’s house and shackle himself to her bed.” However, even he realizes that his tendency to obsess and overact is not good and is not received positively by others:“He knew he had to cogerlo con take it easy, knew he had to rein in his lunatic heart or he would blow it.” Oscar does not run over to her house at that moment.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is clearly not science fiction or fantasy, but it has many elements that associate it with these genres. That the title character has an obsession with science fiction, as well as fantasy, is very fitting. The novel is a look at the tragic and all too real history of the Dominican Republic and the life of Dominican Americans, seen through a creative lens. There are fictional allusions throughout. For instance, the dictator Trujillo is compared to Sauron (the chief villain in The Lord of the Rings). The allusions to speculative fiction throughout this narrative place this story in a light that moves it beyond its gritty backdrop. By doing so, it introduces just a small enough amount of magical realism (such as the family curse) to make the narrative just a bit surreal.

Oscar himself is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy. His love of the genres seems to have rubbed off on Yunior, the narrator. Reading the story, it seems that Yunior imbues the narrative with science fiction and fantasy allusions both as a way to honor his friend, but also because he has come to understand that these genres are a useful way to tell this particular story. Oscar himself recognizes this. Early in the narrative, he is quoted as saying, "What's more sci-fi than Santo Domingo? What's more fantasy than the Antilles?" By framing the novel like this, the readers are being prepared to accept that fantastical things seem to happen in the real world.

Oscar himself greatly identifies with the heroes in these genres. He feels himself destined to do more than his circumstances would suggest. Science fiction and fantasy are full of unlikely heroes being called upon to save the world (or Middle Earth, or the Galaxy, etc). Throughout his many lonely hours, Oscar finds inspiration in these stories and characters. He sees himself as one of these unlikely heroes. These genres allow Oscar to mentally escape his humdrum and depressing real-world circumstances and imagine that he is meant for great things.