Junot Diaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” Essay

The elders who argon used to reminiscing and run acrossing back at the fourth dimensions of their younger long time would everydayly counsel young m laves of today to treasure, cherish, and make the to the highest degree of their youth while it is still thither. They would lots label that, sightly when a person thinks foreverything about youth is so wonderful, angiotensin converting enzymes youthfulness will eventu bothy slip outside and that person goat neer get it back. More often than not, the incautious activities, fantasies, conceive ofs, and endeavors are the near precious memories the elders reminisce about their youth.This could be why it is often told that a young persons composition is the most precious, the richest, and the best to remember. Many people are often grateful that once in their lives they were able to play, explore, fall in jockey, and burst great things. However, there are just about who would just sit with regret as they look back and see zipper about their younger days save their naivety. But how would it face like if a person had everything in his or her younger days but nothing beyond that because his or her spirit ends at the peak of his or her adolescence?One of the shortest yet most rich stories ever told is that of a boy named Oscar Wao in a moving and socialize tale by Junot Diaz called, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This is the story of a boy who had all the play time, adventures, and challenges a child quite a little ever experience in his childhood, but it also tells the story of a boy who wished to move a full-grown man but neer became one. What the storey is About A Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao tells the tale of Oscar, a young boy with the most colorful and adventurous childhood.The story is mess in a humble vill ripen living an ordinary manner of sprightliness in the United States. Oscar is described in the story as an overweight ghetto nerd who is evermore scolded and advis ed by his sister, Lola, to take a leak awkwarder on having a better physique in order to attract girls (Scott). The story opens with a retelling of the laboriousies experienced by his bewilder, Beli, during the regime of an abusive and feared dictator, Rafael Trujillo in 1930 and 1961.Trujillo is tag by Oscar himself as the dictatingest dictator who ever dictated who then became his most hated person because of how he brought sadness and bad luck to his familys life (Diaz 80). This is where the image of fuku appears. Fuku, as how Oscar puts it, is the m an new(prenominal)(prenominal) of all bad lucks that keep affect a person and his or her family not besides for one generation but also for the rest of their lineages existence. Because his mother once dared to go in the way of Trujillo, Oscar believes that fuku has affected their family ever since, so he thinks of fuku as the reason why his family never really had a completely happy life.Aside from being a normal adolescent who daydreams of the typic teenage fantasies, Oscar also dreams of becoming an accomplished sci-fi writer and a successful bedr boy as well. As an adolescent, Oscar goes through the usual dilemmas and adventures of young boys much(prenominal) as being busted, having absurd sexual fantasies, and go in bash with a person he knew he could never have. Oscars story is filled with exciting adventures of a boy who tries to discover his place in a foreign land. It is also loaded with thrill escapades of a young boy with friends and women.Although the story has two different narratorswhich makes it a little bit confusing in some partsthe diction is nonetheless creatively utilized to make the text more than energetic and at the comparable time captivating (Flanagan). Analyzing the Themes Depicted in the myth Love and Obsession Although complete is considered an eternal report that has grazed the pages of innumerous literary works, Junot Diaz successfully captures the interest of a lot of readers in this work because of how complex, difficult, and impossible it is presented in this story.Unlike other works of fiction, Diaz chose to present the concept of fill in under the light of a certain veracity. Diaz depicts the reality of bang in this story as something which other people can only dream about thus, he portrays the reality that the joy and bliss love brings cannot be for all, and that there are just some people who whitethorn have really been struck by fuku and can never have intercourse the faithfulness of true love. Beli is presented as the first victim of this miserable reality of love. Her story involves that of a girl who simply fell in love with the wrong person, in the wrong time, and under the wrong circumstances.Beli was a typical kind of a mistress. She fell for a man who was married to not just any other woman, but to the sister of the feared dictator of friar preacher Republic during that time, Rafael Trujillo. Her love was that strong that she was ready to face the harsh consequences that whitethorn come her way. She was ready to accept the fact that she can never be the first lady in her mans heart no matter how painful it becomes. However, danger came really close when Trujillo and his sister ultimately found out about Beli.Although Beli did not want to leave her country, she was agonistic to do so due to her fear of losing her future and at the advice of her touch foster mother. That was when Beli had to flee to the United States where she was to start a new life. Indeed, love can really be very bitter and unjust to some people. succession other people are throwing away all the goodness love can bring, there are those who yearn for the freedom of agreeable someone, yet they can never do either because they were struck by fuku, or they are just simply not meant to be.Aside from Belis sad experience on love, Diazs notion about love is also illustrated in Oscars experience Love was a sublime thing, easily confused with million other things, and if anybody knew this to be true, it was him (Diaz 321). As Lola and her mate Yunior narrate Oscars story side-by-side, it becomes apparent that Oscar was able to meet several(prenominal) girls in his short-lived life. Even at the young age of seven, Lola describes him to be someone who developed a great fondness for girls who wore lipstick. All the other boys his age avoided the girls like they were a bad case of Captain Trips. non Oscar The girls his sister Lolas friends, his mothers friends, even their neighbor, Mari Colon, a mid-thirties postal employee who wore red on her lips and walked like she had a bell for an ass all purportedly fell for him. (Diaz 12) Thus, Oscar apparently had such(prenominal) an easy time attracting women even at a very juvenile age. However, although this was the case when he was younger, his love life meets a great turnaround during his adolescent years when he encounters a rail at by the name of Yvon. Yvo n is a prostitute whom everybody knows as the property of a corrupt police maitre dhotel.Although this was clearly silent by Oscar, he seems to be unable to do anything about his evolution feelings for Yvona feeling different from what he felt for all the other girls he met in the past. At first, love whitethorn seem as an exaggerated term as a label to what Oscar feels for Yvon. It may be natural for the readers to think that what he feels is an ordinary case of sexual fondness brought by his own sexual frustrations as an overweight adolescent, and also close up that Yvon is the kind of girl who can be considered a master in seducing men.However, it becomes clear that Oscar has and so developed a special kind of fancy towards Yvon when he became so possessive and insistent on being with her scorn the possible dangers it imposes upon him, knowing he is actually trying to steal the captains lady. Oscar even comes to a more serious point of request Yvon to get married, but Yvon hesitates and always turns him down due to fear of what may happen to both of them if they choose to give in to their feelings. At this point, Diazs intention to portray love as an impossible and a difficult thing appears very clear.Based on how much Oscar fought for his love for Yvon, it is straightforward that he and his mother share the same unlucky fate when it comes to love. Hence, it can be inferred that they both fell for the wrong person (who belonged to the wrong people) at the wrong time and under wrong and unlucky circumstances as well. Considering this, the readers may not help but think that Diaz is trying to say that fuku may indeed exist as it appears to have set upon Oscars family. However, love, as many would say, often comes with another miserable reality called regression, and this theme can also be observed in the entirety of Diazs work.Considering the love felt by both Oscar and Beli for their lovers, it can be impregnable to say that it was obsession, aside from love, which kept them holding on to their feelings. Indeed, both can be seen to have specific obsessions. In Belis case, her only obsession was her love for the man who can never give back the same amount of love to her. She knew it was not right to love a man who is already married, yet her obsession for that person and for his affection made her feel that the world is but an unjust place, unable to distribute the freedom to love evenly among all its inhabitants.On the other hand, Oscar also appears to be haunt with love as much as how was obsessed with women in the past. While other kids his age considered women as a vice which needs to be avoided, he looked at them with so much delight that he considered them as the next sweetest thing to candies that can as well vary in size, shapes, and colors. He became so used to women calling him hombre because he was seen as a lover boy who knew all about womens weaknesses and velvet spots. He became so addicted to this kind of relat ionship that he never knew getting unitedly with a girl like Yvon would be such a difficult thing to handle.As it appears, love has indeed become Oscars greatest obsession. He became blind to Yvons natural smasher and appeal which prevented him from seeing the reality that they can never be together since she is already a property of someone elsesomeone else who is much more powerful than him. Thus, the circumstances of Beli and Oscar suggest that oftentimes, love and obsession go hand-in-hand. brace Oscars character is introduced to the concept of sex during the early years of his adolescence, just like what typically happens to average teenagers.This theme reverberates throughout the storyfrom Oscars own retelling to Lola and Yuniors. Like average teenagers, Oscar is described to have such a glorious impression about sex as something that reflects manliness and strength. However, although he knew this, it is mentioned repeatedly in the story that Oscar thought he might perchan ce die a virgin. Throughout the entire story, Oscar talks and fantasizes about nothing but the image of him making love with a woman he loves.Yet, there are also times when he becomes so expansive that he just wanted to do the act with anybody just to study he would not die a virgin. This seems to be the biggest frustration of Oscar. He leaves their home for college as a virgin and he comes back a virgin still. Thus, it can be inferred that Diaz attempts to imply that in this modern age where sex is being popularized by the mass media, it may seem big(p) for a typical teenager to go on without experiencing it when all the boys are considering it as a trophy and a great achievement.Aside from this, considering that Oscar is overweight, Diaz presents how hard it can be for an adolescent who is not physically attractive to dream of something like sex when everybody else in the neighborhood seems to be doing it as a normal activity. Only in the last lines of the novel would reveal th at Oscar indeed has done it with the love of his life, Yvon, and he chose to describe it this way So this is what everybodys always talking about Diablo If only Id known. The stunner The beauty (Diaz 339).Reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is like looking deep into the frustrations and fantasies of every teenager. Oscars characterization as a expansive overweight adolescent who enters and leaves college as a virgin, his natural tendency to go his nerdiness the way a master swordsman wears his sword, as well as his occasional suicidal tendencies can be seen as honest and true to life(predicate) representations of the challenges adolescents face (Kakutani). Moreover, Oscars views of love, obsession, and sex also reflect the popular notions and impressions of teenagers regarding such topics.Hence, this work of Diaz may serve as a mirror to all the young people who cannot identify with their environment either because of their color, nationality, weight, and/or personalit y. Oscar Waos fantasies, challenges, failures, and frustrations definitely show the readers that an adolescents life is not always plainly about play, adventure, and leading a happy-go-lucky life. All of his heartaches, mishaps, and adventures regulate his desire to be accepted by his generation, since being accepted in his age may mean having several girlfriends, being physically fit, and in particular not dying a virgin.In this short-lived yet high-power life of Oscar Wao, the reality of youth being the most colorful and social welfare period of a persons life is once again justified. Thus, considering how Oscars life ended, it can be inferred that childhood is the happiest time of life, and although Oscars life ended there, his life tells that childhood is also the period of life that one should enjoy to the fullest. Works Cited Diaz, Junot. The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. London Riverhead Books, 2007. Dickens, Charles. A boys story is the best that is ever told. Quot e testicle (British Edition). Ed. Hagopian Institute. California Create Space, 2008. 16 Flanagan, Mark. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. About. com. Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. <http//contemporarylit. about. com/od/fiction/fr/oscarWao. htm>. Kakutani, Michiko. Travails of an Outcast. The New York Times. 4 Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. <http//www. nytimes. com/2007/09/04/books/04diaz. html>. Scott, A. C. Dreaming in Spanglish. The New York Times. 30 Sept. 2007. 29 July 2009. <http//www. nytimes. com/2007/09/30/books/review/Scott-t. html? _r=1>.