Short Response Paper to Junot Diazs Novel - Essay Example

No. Short Response Paper to Junot Diaz’s Novel Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao illustrates a story surrounding a character named Oscar who is too fat and too much of a nerd to be socially acceptable. He is a Dominican American boy who is struggling with the difficulties arising out of his social isolation, racial background and deprived social class status. Critical review of novel by Christopher Taylor published in 2008 in The Guardian asserts that Oscar Wao represents a character impersonating typical self-loathing of coloured people in the United States. Taylor makes his point by saying: Diaz succeeds in coupling the book's interest in genre to the creolisation he values in Caribbean culture. At the same time, he's impressively unsparing about "white supremacy and people-of-color self-hate" and the continuing political failures of the Dominican Republic. "That's our parents' shit", one character says of the fuku, as though it can be consigned to the past. But like history or politics, to which it's clearly related, the curse can't safely be ignored: "No matter what you believe, fuku believes in you.” Taylor goes on with the explanation that novel is overwhelmed with Dominican slang, and every sentence, although written in English, has two-three words of Dominican with extensive references to sci-fi fiction showing the lead character to be an ultimate nerd who takes pride in it despite his love- and success-deprived life. If Diaz’s work is examined on the criteria of Great American book, it can be said that it needs to be a true reflection of liberalism. Diaz’s work illustrates digression from traditional fiction and amalgamates novels and fiction, which adds liberality to his approach (Crews 34). A great American novel is expected to be based on American social values and cultural identification. Keeping that in mind, Diaz’s work explains economic and social deprivation of ethnic minorities and impacts of their historic backgrounds on them. For this purpose, the narrator or main character of the novel is not required to be a hero or a character representing stereotypical popularity. In fact, this character is expected to be someone with recognisable human traits that readers can relate to. Despite its strong references to Dominican history, Oscar Wao represents the persona of an average American coloured boy who struggles hard to get his work published, is strongly inspired by technology and fiction and, like any young boy, aspires for a beautiful woman to be in his life. Another important trait of Great American culture is its references to themes arising out of ethnic and other backgrounds i.e. lesbians and gays, etc. (Crews 33). This fictional work not only reveals how the character operates in crisis but also demonstrates how American culture has influenced them. In the light of this categorisation, it can be said Oscar is highly influenced by American culture since he was born and raised in New Jersey. Although his family as a whole has been greatly affected by what has happened to them in the Dominican Republic, i.e. killing of Oscar’s grandparents and child labour of Oscar’s mother, his earlier life remains isolated from these events during his teenage, just like in the life of an average American teenager. A great American Novel is expected to give a realistic image of the lives of its characters and should also demonstrate difficulties faced by them (Crews 33). Diaz has fulfilled this criterion of demonstrating human agony in not only Oscar’s but other characters of this novel as well. Oscar’s pursuit for happiness, success and love is one such example. On the other hand, Oscar’s sister has struggled greatly with family and her lover. Furthermore, Oscar’ mother, who had to undergo child labour and then a disturbing adolescence followed by cancer in later stage of her life, illustrates how Oscar’s family was cursed with hardships of life. In a great American novel, the lives of the characters should explain traits of the society and culture that they belong to. Historic illustration defines that there is a repetitive reference to Dominican culture. In fact, it is the history of his ancestors that affected Oscar’s life greatly. It defines the economically and socially depressed life under a tyrant’s ruler who has destroyed Oscar’s ancestors’ family and has caused great pains to her mother as well. Even Oscar’s pursuit for love of an older woman also meets the same ill fate. In the given time and place, Oscar’s humanly and realistic problems give an insight of social environment that Oscar is living in. After critical analysis of Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, we see that it is capable of fulfilling the criteria of great American novel. The critic Christopher Taylor asserts that Oscar Wao is a typical American boy belonging to an ethnic group who is addicted to self-loathing and, like any other young boy, aspires to love and be loved. Furthermore, Taylor also highlights the behaviour of the young generation in putting the onus of their troubles on their ancestors, as Diaz did by virtue of fuku. Relating these traits to the criteria of the great American novel, we realise that Diaz managed to deliver characters in their natural settings and historic backgrounds. Furthermore, these characters relate well to the American life and culture and demonstrate challenges faced by an average American. The novel also defines how American life has influenced its characters and how they are moving back and forth between American and Dominican cultures. It can be said that Diaz’s work meets the criteria of the great American novel by virtue of its historic and social completeness. Works Cited Crews, Frederick. “The New Americanists”. The New York Review of Books, 39 (1992): 32-4. Taylor, Christopher. “Performance Art”. The Guardian. 2008. Web. 26 March 2013. Read More