Oscar Wao and the depiction of masculinity in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Book Report/Review Example

Oscar Wao and the depiction of masculinity in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a novel by Junot Diaz that presents male and female characters who are forced to deal with different gender expectations as set out in the Dominican culture. For instance, female characters, such as Beli and Lola are forced to live through societal expectations of women, for instance being submissive to men (added an example). On the other hand, a character like Oscar Wao and other male characters must live by the masculine expectations that the Dominican society expects of them, for instance the ability to court women and win their hearts (an example of masculinity). The novel is full of stereotypes that both male and female characters must fulfill. A hero to the author is someone who undergoes different kinds of struggle in the Dominican culture and lives by the expectations of that society (definition of a hero). The author represents Oscar as a hero in the novel because as the main character, he undergoes many setbacks but he does not give up. This shows endurance an aspect that is expected of the masculine Dominican male figure (Diaz 12). This paper argues that the author uses Oscar Wao and his actions in different contexts to illustrate masculinity in the Dominican culture (Changed to be more specific). First, the author depicts Oscar as a hero in the book showing that masculinity is an important aspect especially in the Dominican culture. Oscar is the main character in the novel and goes through a lot in his life as he tries to fit into the role required of him as a man. For example, Oscar struggles to be a part of Ybon and reaches to a point where he feels that he should be a part of her by being her boyfriend (Diaz 16) (changed to remove confusion). However, this is ripped from him taking him to where he started. He undergoes several failures that make him undergo through depression that was depicted through his carelessness to his own life. He became unkempt, kept a long untidy hair, did not exercise become fat and started masturbating using porn magazines (changed to be specific). Despite the above facts, he picks himself up and moves on each time he fails. He overcomes his problems by focusing on his own thoughts and life. He also listens to advice, for instance his sister’s advice when he was using porn magazines (changed to show how Oscar overcomes his problems and what helps him to do so). Oscar experiences pain in his setbacks but he does not give up from his responsibilities at any time. This is also seen by the way he handles people’s expectations of him (Diaz 25). Being a Dominican, people expected Oscar to be a man with a huge ego or belief in himself. Being a dominical male in the novel means being a hero or a person who can conquer women by his actions. However, this creates pressure for him because he does not have a huge ego (Diaz 15). For instance, he uses porn magazines to compensate for his lack of a girlfriend (changed to show example). As such, this depresses him, forces him to get into a fantasy world, one that he has his own characters, can control comfortably, and has no one to answer to. Because of the failure to live to the expectations of a Dominican male (to show which expectations), Oscar is branded as a weird man despite the fact that he is not. While young, specifically at the age of seven, Oscar is branded as a hero despite being a boy (combined to the above paragraph for continuation of sense). The narrator describes Oscar chasing girls around. His family and his friends encourage him to do so to grow knowing what is expected of him as a Dominican male. The author states, “In those Blessed days of his youth, Oscar was something of a Casanova. One of those preschool loverboys who was always trying to kiss the girls…because in those days he was still a normal Dominican boy” (Diaz 12). This shows the expectations that the society had on him as a boy and chasing girls was one aspect of being masculine. The author shows that it was a normal behavior among Dominican boys and men. At some point, the author represents Oscar not as the ideal Dominican man. For instance, he says, “It wasn’t just that he didn’t have no kind of father to show him the masculine ropes, he simply lacked all aggressive and martial tendencies” (Diaz 15). Boys and men are expected to be aggressive in the Dominican culture, for instance by chasing girls around (changed to be specific and to show why Oscar is described as lacking aggression). This line is like a puzzle in the novel among other areas where the author shows that Oscar was, by far, not the Dominican male that everybody had expected he was. However, the author uses such descriptions including the depression, for instance he his sister’s girlfriends treated him like a deaf-mute harem guard (changed to show an example of depression) that Oscar underwent to show that despite the fact he may not have been the normal Dominican boy, he still had masculinity in him. For example, Oscar states that he likes Spanish girls, showing an aspect of masculinity in him (shows the masculine aspect in Oscar). He uses this to show that time changes and not every man in the Dominican culture could have the same characteristics. However, this does not mean that one is not masculine. Masculinity also comprises of issues of endurance and the author uses this to capture masculinity in Oscar. Masculinity according to the author can also be seen in terms of how different one is from the others. Because of the expectation that men should have a huge ego, they are supposed to mould their own lives and to do this one should be unique rather than follow everything every other man does (explains the above and shows why Diaz constructs masculinity in this manner). Oscar’s appearance had drastically changed in his later years and no longer attracted women. As the author describes him, “He walked into school every day like the fat lonely nerdy kid he was, and all he could think about was the day of his manumission, when he would at last be set free from his unending horror” (Diaz 19). Oscar did not feel that he belonged but this feeling did not faze him. He dealt with his depression on his own and came out a winner. The author also describes him as a nerd by saying, “He wore his semi kink hair in a Puerto Rican afro, rocked enormous Section 8 glasses-his anti-pussy devices” (Diaz 20). Oscar felt alone because his friends mocked him and his family considered him different. His difference from his peers, for instance Al an Miggs (changed to show examples of his peers) did not stop him from living (Diaz 28). This was a challenge that he had to deal with and he successfully did at the end. He endured such pressures and overcame them. A man must not cry in front of others because this will depict him as a weak person Oscar had to show that he was strong even if he struggled a lot (changed to make the topic sentence stronger). Oscar struggled to live up to the stereotypes of masculinity expected of him. At some point in the novel, Oscar had given up on himself and on the hope that he could find a woman to love him. The author states, “He cried often for his love of some girl or another. He cried in the bathroom where no one else could hear him” (Diaz 25). He could not seek help from his peers because no one could understand him. He had given up on his heritage and had to repress all his feelings of hopelessness. Through this, the author shows that a man has to struggle in life to succeed. A man must be confident and persevere irrespective of the situations that he undergoes. The author has shown this clearly through Oscar as described above. After going through so much, Oscar changes his negative attitude to a positive one (changed to remove confusion) showing his accomplishments in overcoming his challenges. Seeing Miggs get a girlfriend snapped his senses back as he considered Miggs worse than he thought of himself. Oscar took up writing to express his emotions and changed his appearance. Oscar fell in love with Ana, a girl in his SAT. These behaviors depicted him more of a Dominican than he had been for long. His confidence had grown. He achieved success in his last days because he gained courage, looked for Ybon and had sex. In fact, he tells Yunior, “I kissed a girl, Yunior. I finally kissed a girl” (Diaz 305). Ybon gave Oscar hope and confidence that he had lost while dealing with the struggles to live like a Dominican man. Ybon was special because she represented an aspect of success for Oscar especially by conquering her (changed to show what Ybon gave Oscar and whys she was special to Oscar and to the thesis of the paper). This shows his success and his happiness. All these prove that he wanted to be a Dominican male and does so before he dies. Oscar died as a true Dominican showing his masculine side. He loved and felt that he was loved. He died a cruel death but his death depicted him as a masculine Dominican male figure that he always strived to be. In conclusion, the author represents Oscar as a hero in the novel. He undergoes many setbacks but he does not give up. This shows endurance an aspect that is expected of the masculine Dominican male figure. Oscar struggles throughout to become a masculine Dominican male figure as expected of him in society. He experienced many challenges that force him into depression but manages to overcome it. The author complicates Oscar’s life to show the reader that masculinity is not an easy aspect to achieve and that one must have a strong will to be masculine. This serves to show that masculinity and femininity are completely different have different expectations. Work Cited Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. New York: Riverhead Books, 2008. Print. Read More