The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
is full of dualities, of character, place, time, theme, and motif. For every
literary element in one chapter, there is a contrasting element in another. Diaz
performs a balancing act, using the following dualities to write his post-modern
coming-of-age immigrant novel:
- Love vs.
Violence - Family vs.
Alienation - Fantasy vs. Brutal
realization - Wondrous vs.
Brief - Past vs. Present
- Middle Earth vs. Third
World
In the first half of the novel, Oscar
lands on the left side of these dualities. In America, his comic books, and his fantasy
fiction, Oscar is the romantic quester who dreams of only one goal: love. But, when he
is touched by his family's curse (the fuku, Trujillo, and the
machismo sexist culture of the D.R.), Oscar changes to become a kind of tragic martyr
who dies for both sides of the chart: fantasy AND reality, love AND violence. Although
Oscar cannot achieve his dreams, his death allows Junior vicariously to achieve them, a
kind of antidote to the fuku.
A good
quote to begin your paper is found at the beginning of Chapter
5:
“Men are
not indispensable. But Trujillo is irreplaceable. For Trujillo is not a man. His is…a
cosmic force…Those who try to compare him to his ordinary contemporaries are mistaken.
He belongs to…the category of those born to a special
destiny.”
Use this quote as a
teaser or from which to glean some ideas. Good luck...
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