The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) is a best-selling novel written by

Dominican author Junot Daz. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New
Jersey where Daz was raised and deals explicitly with his ancestral homeland's
experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo.[1] It has received numerous positive
reviews from critics and went on to win numerous prestigious awards in 2008,
such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Concept
2 Plot
2.1 Part I
2.1.1 Chapter One: Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World (1974-1987)
2.1.2 Chapter Two: Wildwood (1982-1985)
2.1.3 Chapter Three: The Three Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral (1955-1962)
2.1.4 Chapter Four: Sentimental Education (1988-1992)
2.1.4.1 Analysis of Chapter Four
2.2 Part II
2.2.1 Chapter Five: Poor Abelard (1944-1946)
2.2.2 Chapter Six: Land of the Lost (1992-1995)
2.3 Part III
2.3.1 Chapter Seven: The Final Voyage
2.3.2 Chapter Eight: The End of the Story
2.3.3 The Final Letter
3 Style
3.1 Narration
3.2 Footnotes
3.3 Slang
3.4 Reliability
3.5 Magical Realism
4 Themes and motifs
4.1 The Mongoose

4.2 Power of Appearance

5 Literary Allusions
5.1 Comic Books
5.2 Fantasy/Science-fiction
6 Critical reception
7 Adaptations
7.1 Feature Film
8 References
9 External links
Concept[edit source | editbeta]

The book chronicles both the life of Oscar de Leon, an overweight Dominican boy
growing up in Paterson, New Jersey who is obsessed with science fiction and
fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as the curse that has plagued his
family for generations.
The middle sections of the novel center on the lives of Oscar's runaway sister,
Lola; his mother, Hypatia Belicia Cabral; and his grandfather, Abelard. Rife with
footnotes, science fiction and fantasy references, comic book analogies, and
various Spanish dialects, the novel is also a meditation on story-telling, the
Dominican diaspora and identity, masculinity, and oppression.
Most of the story is told by an apparently omniscient narrator who is eventually
revealed to be Yunior de Las Casas, a college roommate of Oscar's who dated
Lola.[3] Yunior also appears in many of Diaz's short stories and is often seen as
an alter ego of the author.[4][5][6]
Plot[edit source | editbeta]

This novel opens with an introductory section which explains the fuk -"generally a curse or a doom of some kind; specifically the Curse and the Doom
of the New World," and the zafaa counterspell to the fuk. The narrator of the
book, unknown to the reader at this point, explains that the story he is about to
tell is his own form of a zafa.
Part I[edit source | editbeta]
Part I of the book contains an introductory section, as well as the first four
chapters of the story, and runs for over half the novel's length.

Chapter One: Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World (1974-1987)[edit source |
editbeta]
This chapter introduces the reader to the titular character Oscar de Len. Oscar
comes from a Dominican family, and is therefore expected to be successful with
girls. However, Oscar is more successful with science fiction, cartoons, reading,
and role-playing games.
This chapter explains Oscar's history as a child through high school, focusing on
his inability to find love.
When he was seven, Oscar had a week-long relationship with two girls at the
same time, Maritza Chacn and Olga Polanco. When Maritza gives Oscar an
ultimatum, he breaks up with Olga, only to be quickly dumped by Maritza. The
narrator mentions that this event will cause all three of them to be unlucky in
love.
In high school, Oscar is an outcast. He is very overweight and his fascination with
"the Genres" causes him to be teased. When his two friends Al and Miggs both
find girlfriends and do not involve Oscar (or try to help Oscar find a girlfriend),
Oscar quickly stops spending time with them.
During his senior year of high school, Oscar takes an SAT review course. There,
he meets and shortly begins to spend a lot of time with a girl named Ana
Obregn. Oscar shortly falls in love with Ana. When her ex-boyfriend Manny
returns from the Army, Ana stops spending time with Oscar. It is around this time
that Oscar begins to start writing heavily, science fiction or fantasy stories,
mostly centered on the end of the world.
When Oscar discovers that Manny has been physically abusing Ana, Oscar takes
his uncle's gun and stands outside of Manny's apartment, but Manny never
returns that night.
The chapter ends with Oscar revealing his love to Ana, Ana rejecting him, and
Oscar going away to college at Rutgers.
Chapter Two: Wildwood (1982-1985)[edit source | editbeta]
The narrative changes to the first person, ostensibly from the point of view of
Lola, Oscar's sister. Daz commented in a talk given on September 20, 2012 that
this change in narrative style is meant to be understood as Lola's story dictated
through the lens of the narrator, Yunior, which explains the temporary second
person at the outset.[citation needed] It explores the distant and often verbally
abusive relationship that Lola has with her Old World Dominican mother, and
Lola's resulting rebellion.
It opens with Yunior telling, in the second person (after a few pages changing to
first person "Lola"), the story of how Lola found out her mother had breast cancer.
It then proceeds to explore the negative relationship that Lola had with her
mother. This poor relationship causes Lola to run away from home to live with her

boyfriend and his father on the Jersey Shore. After a bit of time, Lola finds herself
again unhappy and calls home. She talks with Oscar and convinces him to bring
money and meet Lola at a coffee shop. When they meet up, Lola discovers that
Oscar told their mother about the meeting.
In an effort to run away from the coffee shop and from her mother, Lola
accidentally knocks her cancer-ridden mother over. When Lola turns around to
make sure her mother is okay, her mother grabs Lola by the hand, revealing that
she was faking crying in an effort to get Lola to come back.
As a result of her running away, Lola is sent to live with her grandmother, La Inca,
in the Dominican Republic.
Chapter Three: The Three Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral (1955-1962)[edit source |
editbeta]
This chapter introduces the reader to the history of Oscar and Lola's mother,
whose full name is revealed to be Hypata Belicia Cabral, though she is usually
referred to simply as Beli.
It is revealed that Beli's family died when she was one, with rumors that Trujillo
was responsible. She was raised by a series of abusive foster families until her
father's cousin, La Inca, rescues her from such a life. La Inca continually tells Beli
that her father was a doctor, and that her mother was a nurse as a way to remind
Beli of her heritage. La Inca brings Beli back to her hometown of Ban, where La
Inca runs a bakery
At the age of 13, Beli lands a scholarship at El Redentor, one of the best schools
in Ban. There, she falls in love with a light-skinned boy named Jack Pujols, and
spends a lot of her time trying to earn his affection, to no avail. Because she is
poor and dark-skinned, Beli is often made fun of, and is a social outcast.
However, during the summer of sophomore year, Beli quickly develops into a full
grown and well endowed woman, and the book describes how Beli becomes very
popular with men of all ages.
With her new body, Beli is finally able to catch the attention of Jack Pujols and
loses her virginity to him. However, when they are discovered in a closet
together, Beli is kicked out of school. Instead of transferring to a different school,
however, she earns a job at a restaurant run by two Chinese-Mexican immigrant
brothers, Juan and Jos, where she works as a waitress.
After a time, Beli goes to a club with another waitress named Constantina. There,
she meets a gangster, and the two of them form a relationship. After a while, Beli
is fired from her job. Although the Gangster's authority quickly gets her her job
back, she feels it is not the same and resigns. Eventually, Beli becomes pregnant
with the Gangster's child. It is then revealed that the gangster is in fact married
to one of Trujillo's sisters, "known affectionately as La Fea" (The Ugly). When La
Fea discovers that Beli is pregnant with her husband's child, she has two large
cops resembling Elvis, with pompadour hairstyles, kidnap Beli, with plans to take
her to have a forced abortion. As she is being led to the car, she sees a third cop

who does not have a face. Before the cops can drive away, Beli spots her former
employers, Juan and Jos, as well as her former coworkers and calls for help.
They come to her rescue and Beli manages to get back to her old home.
However, she is tricked into thinking the Gangster is outside in his car, and runs
out to meet him, only to run into the same cops from before. The two cops
physically beat Beli and leave her close to death, and continue to do so in the
cane field. Her fetus dies due to the injuries.
When she discovers that Beli has been taken, La Inca begins to pray very
intensely, and in short order, a small but intense prayer group forms around La
Inca.
Back in the cane field, after she has been left for dead, a mongoose with golden
eyes appears and leads Beli out of the cane, telling her that she will have two
children. As Beli returns to the road, she is picked up by a group of traveling
musicians. Thanks to La Inca's connections in the medical community, Beli is
nursed back to health.
After Beli returns to La Inca's care, it quickly becomes apparent that Beli will not
be safe in the Dominican Republic under Trujillo, and so she is sent to live in New
York.
Chapter Four: Sentimental Education (1988-1992)[edit source | editbeta]
This chapter explores Oscar's time at Rutgers, and introduces the narrator,
Yunior, who was Oscar's roommate and Lola's boyfriend. Yunior is a big guy, with
an even bigger heart. The narrator begins to tell his own story, saying it (his
involvement with the de Leons) started when he was jumped in New Brunswick
on the way home from a club. Lola was the only one who came and took care of
him when he was recovering. He admits he cared about Lola even though he
thinks he is not supposed to care about anything, and despite the fact that she is
not the kind of girl he usually goes for because she is tall with no breasts and
huge hips and a butt. Yunior (the name of the narrator is first revealed on p. 169)
describes his first kiss with Lola when she asks him to drive her home.
When Oscar tries to kill himself over a girl at the end of sophomore year, Yunior
steps up and rooms with him the next year in the dorm called Demarest. Lola is
as surprised as Yunior is. Yunior has always hated Demarest because it is full of
artists, freaks, and losers. Oscar and Yunior get a room specified in the writing
section. Yunior rooms with Oscar partially because of Lola but also because he
would have had to room off campus otherwise and he could not afford it. When
Yunior moves in, Oscar tells him he is cursed, but Yunior is not fazed by it. In
retrospect, he thinks he probably should have run the other way. Yunior states he
has never met a Dominican like Oscar. Oscar is a nerd who writes fifteen to
twenty pages a day, and puts signs on their door in fantasy languages from his
books. When Yunior comes home at night, he often finds Oscar watching Akira, a
Japanese post-apocalyptic film, or role-playing. Yunior admits that Oscar is a
considerate roommate, and Yunior does his part to return the favor by cooking
dinner and reading some of Oscars writing. Yunior tries to give advice to Oscar

on how to get girls, but he also believes that Oscar is too nerdy and too fat to get
a girl. In addition, Oscar does not want to change. When Yuniors girlfriend
Suriyan dumps him for sleeping with a girl named Awilda, Yunior makes Oscar his
project. He takes him running every day. After a while, Oscar quits. Yunior gets
angryOscar resists, and Yunior pushes him. Lola calls from abroad (in Spain)
and they fightshe tells him never to speak to her again. Oscar tried to apologize
to Yunior but Yunior did not apologize back and remained cool towards Oscar.
Yunior describes how his friends taunt Oscar T no eres nada de dominicano
(You are not one bit Dominican) to which Oscar would protest that he is. On
Halloween, Oscar dresses up as Doctor Who, from the TV show; Yunior thought he
looked like that fat homo Oscar Wilde, their friend Melvin heard Oscar Wao
and thats how Oscar got his nickname. Oscar falls in love with a beautiful crazy
Puerto Rican goth girl named Jenni Muoz, also known as La Jablesse. She once
turned Yunior down, and he is still a little put off by it. Oscar and Jenni become
friends and started to hang out, much to Yuniors surprise. Yunior admits he reads
Oscars journal to find out what they talk about, which is mostly poetry and
literature. Oscar starts jogging again and making more of an effort to look good.
Then Jenni gets a boyfriend and stops hanging out with Oscar. Oscar is depressed
and stops writing. Yunior calls Lola because he is worried. Two weeks later Oscar
walks in on her and her new boyfriend naked. Oscar freaks out, insults her, and
rips posters off her walls. Yunior stops him, but from then on Oscar is thought of
as a psycho, and that is how that school year ends. The last night rooming
together, they get drunk, and Yunior leaves. Oscar continues to drink and walks
onto a train bridge in New Brunswick. When the train is coming, Oscar sees the
Golden Mongoose, they look into each others eyes, and then it is gone. Oscar
has left a suicide note for Yunior, Lola, Beli and Jenni. He jumps off the bridge and
lands on the median and lives. Yunior refers to this period as the Fall. Beli, Yunior,
and Lola visit Oscar at the hospital. Lola and her mother are fighting. Oscar tells
Yunior he believes the curse made him do it, and Yunior does not believe him.
Lola and Yunior have a brief conversation about whether or not Oscar should live
in Demarest again, and Yunior leaves without fulfilling his desire to kiss Lola. The
next year at school Oscar showed up at Yuniors dorm and they have a short
conversation updating each other on their lives. Oscar visits Yunior occasionally
but Yunior never visits him. During winter finals, Yunior runs into Lola on the bus
and asks her on a date. She accepts reluctantly. They start a relationship and
Yunior promises never to lie to Lola. In the spring, Yunior moves back into
Demarest with Oscar. Yunior again admits to reading Oscars journal, reporting
that the fall after the Fall was dark for Oscar. He would take midnight drives in his
mothers car, sometimes almost falling asleep at the wheel, and then at the last
minute waking up.
Analysis of Chapter Four[edit source | editbeta]
In this chapter, Yunior is revealed as the narrator. Yunior is hypersexual, athletic
and knows how to charm a woman; thus, he is Oscars foilby acting as the
quintessential Dominican male, Yunior provides sharp contrast to Oscar. When
Oscar warns Yunior that he is cursed, Yunior does not listen because he does not
yet believe in the curse at this point. Looking back, he says he is old school now,

but back then, he was just real fucking dumb. Here Yunior implies that not
believing in curses is dumb because, as he said in the prologue, even if he does
not believe in the curse it will believe in him. Oscars nickname come about when
he is dressed as the TV show character Doctor Who, but Yunior thinks he looks
like Oscar Wilde. Oscar Wilde was a writer and a homosexual. Although Oscar is
not gay, he is a writer, and his nerdiness makes him an outsider, just as Oscar
Wilde's homosexuality put him on the outskirts of society at the time. In some
ways, Oscar de Len embraces his outsider statushe does not want Yuniors
help to become normal because he knows he will never be normal. Instead, he
just continues to be himself and hope that that will work for him in his mission to
get girls. Jenni Muoz's nickname is La Jablesse. La Jablesse (also known as
Lajabless or la Diabless) is a Trinidad demon. The demon is a woman with one
human foot and one hoof, and is known for leading men into thorny bushes and
leaving them to die. While Jenni herself is not supernatural, her character is
likened to that of a demon, and in the end of her relationship with Oscar, she may
as well be La Jablesse, as Oscar's only wish after losing her is to die. Oscars
suicide attempt is another manifestation of the way he behaves in love, as
demonstrated by his rash behavior with Ana Obregn, and by the earlier suicide
attempt that caused Lola to ask Yunior to live with Oscar for their junior year.
Oscar's encounter with the Mongoose again brings the magical and supernatural
element into the story. The same mongoose that was able to help Belicia out of
the cane field appears to Oscar right before he jumps off the bridge and lives. If
the no face man is the harbinger of the fuku, then the Mongoose is the harbinger
of zafa. Yunior and Lola fall in love in this chapter, and Lola has Yunior promise
never to lie. Yet, the readers already know that Yunior lives a cheating lifestyle,
something that is considered very Dominican in the novel Even with Yunior trying
his best not to be the person he knows he is and to be better for Lola, there is
dramatic irony in the fact that his failure is inevitable. This is one of the pitfalls of
being the Dominican male that is glorified throughout the novel. Given this new
perspective, the question is raised: Are Yunior and Oscar just simply on opposite
sides of the spectrum? Oscar wants love and sex and cannot get either, while
Yunior has too much sex and no ability to remain faithful to the one he loves.
Part II[edit source | editbeta]
Part II of the book contains an introductory section, as well as chapters Five and
Six of the story.
Chapter Five: Poor Abelard (1944-1946)[edit source | editbeta]
This chapter is the story of Abelard, Belicia's father (Oscar and Lola's
grandfather), and the "Bad Thing he said about Trujillo," which causes his family
to be torn apart leaving most family members dead. The dictator, Trujillo, known
for his sexual desire for young girls, whose families cannot protect them, learns
that Abelard's oldest daughter, Jaquelyn, has become a beautiful young teenager.
As a father Abelard does not want to give his daughter to Trujillo, as so many
other fathers had been forced to do, and does not bring her to the event it had
been demanded she come to. Some four weeks later Abelard is arrested for

supposedly making a joke that there were no bodies in the trunk of his car. As
Trujillo's henchmen disposed of opponents this way he was accused of slandering
the dictator. After his arrest and torture his wife learns she is pregnant with what
turns out to be her third daughter, Belicia. Two months after the baby's birth she
is killed by an army truck in a probable suicide. Her two older daughters die
under suspicious circumstance and the baby is taken to be a criada, a child slave.
Mistreated and bearing the scars of the hot oil thrown on her back she is rescued
at the age of nine by her father's cousin, La Inca, whom she comes to regard as
her mother.
Chapter Six: Land of the Lost (1992-1995)[edit source | editbeta]
This chapter is about the post-college life of Oscar, and the time he spends in the
Dominican Republic. He falls in love with an older prostitute named Ybn
Pimentel. This results in Oscar being severely beaten, reflecting the same
situation of his mother. The golden mongoose, which saved his mother's life,
returns to save Oscar's life. Oscar returns to the United States.
Part III[edit source | editbeta]
Part III of the book contains chapters Seven and Eight, an unnamed section, and
the novel's epilogue, "The Final Letter." Part III contains an introductory section
where Oscar visits and lies to Yunior about his plans for the future. They also
discuss Yunior's relationship with Lola.
Chapter Seven: The Final Voyage[edit source | editbeta]
Oscar returns to the Dominican Republic to write and to attempt to be with Ybn.
His attempts take place over twenty-seven days in which he writes numerous
letters to Ybn and shakes off any attempts from family or friends, including Lola,
Yunior, La Inca, and Clives, to forget Ybn. Ybn herself resists Oscar for fear of
the Capitan, but Oscar is persistent and waves off his family's fears as
misunderstanding of their love.
Oscar is captured by the Capitan's friends, whom Yunior calls Gorilla Grodd and
Solomon Grundy, and they drive Oscar (and Clives) again to the cane field. Oscar
reiterates the power of love and indicates that death would turn him into a "hero,
an avenger. Because anything you can dream... you can be.[7] " They then shoot
Oscar, but his speech suggests that he is fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming
something worth writing about. The chapter ends with the word "Oscar"
interrupted by a dash. It is unclear if this is interrupted narration for Yunior or a
direct address to Oscar.
Chapter Eight: The End of the Story[edit source | editbeta]
The narrator reveals the eventual fates of the characters. Beli's cancer returns
one year after Oscar's death, killing her ten months later. Yunior speculates that
she had given up. La Inca moves back to Bani. Lola breaks up with Yunior,
asserting herself after having had enough of his cheating. She soon after meets
someone in Miami, marries him, and has a baby girl, named Isis. Yunior has

dreams of Oscar for ten years while his life deteriorates, until he hits rock bottom,
and follows Oscar's request presumably to write this novel. At the time of the
novel, Yunior is married in New Jersey (almost faithfully) and teaches composition
at Community College. He and Lola still run into each other occasionally. Although
he still thinks about her and how he might have saved their relationship, they
only ever talk about Oscar.
The Final Letter[edit source | editbeta]
This serves as an epilogue to the novel wherein Yunior describes letters he and
Lola received from Oscar before he died. Lola was told to expect Oscars novel in
the mail, which never arrives. Yunior, on the other hand, finds out that Oscar and
Ybn did consummate their relationship.
Style[edit source | editbeta]

Narration[edit source | editbeta]

Instead of Daz directly telling the story to the reader, he creates an aesthetic
distance by speaking through the novel's narrator Yunior. Yunior provides analysis
and commentary for the events he is relaying in the novel. His speech often
exemplifies code switching, switching rapidly from a lively, Caribbean-inflected
vernacular, replete with frequent usage of profanity to wordy, eloquent, and
academic prose. This runs in parallel to several central themes of the novel
regarding identity, as Yunior's code switching alludes to a struggle between his
Dominican identity and his identity as a writer. Code switching between Spanish
and English is also central to the narrative itself of the book, as characters switch
back and forth as they see fit.
The narration of the book also shifts away from Yunior to another character at
several key moments in the story. In chapter two, Lola narrates her own story
from the first person. This is foreshadowing of the intimacy between Lola and
Yunior yet to come. The beginning of chapter two also features the use of second
person narration, rarely used in literature.
Diaz's use of Yunior as the main narrator of the book strengthens the idea of the
novel as metafiction. Yunior reminds the reader consistently that he is telling the
story, as opposed to the story happening in its own right.
Footnotes[edit source | editbeta]
The "Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" makes extensive use of footnotes to the
point that many of the characters are developed in the footnotes in addition to
the story. Rather than just provide factual background, Yunior's narrative
continues in the footnotes just as it does in the body of the novel. When
describing Oscars deep love of science fiction and fantasy literature, Yunior
continues in the footnotes: Where this outsized love of genre jumped off from no
one quite seems to know. It might have been a consequence being Antillean (who

more sci-fi than us?)...[8] The presence of Yunior's footnotes, therefore, remind
the reader that there is always more to one's story.
Yunior even makes reference in the footnotes to his present life earlier in the
novel than when he describes it in Chapter Eight. In my first draft, Saman was
actually Jarabacoa, but then my girl Leonie, resident expert in all things Domo,
pointed out that there are no beaches in Jarabacoa.[9] Yunior thus builds the
writing of the novel and his relationship with Oscar into the greater history of the
Dominican Republic. The many science fiction references throughout the novel
and footnotes emphasize (Yunior believes) the fantastical elements of Dominican
history. Yunior cites the fall of Mordor and the dispelling of evil from Middle Earth
from The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a complement to the fall of Trujillo.[10]
The footnotes contain many references specifically to the reign of Rafael Trujillo
from 1930 to 1961, providing historical background on figures like the Mirabal
Sisters,[11] who were assassinated by Trujillo, and Anacaona, an indigenous
woman who fought against the invading Spanish colonialists.[12] While
referencing historical figures, Yunior frequently includes the novels fictional
characters in the historical events.
But what was even more ironic was that Abelard had a reputation for being able
to keep his head down during the worst of the regimes madness-- for unseeing,
as it were. In 1937, for example, while the Friends of the Dominican Republic
were perejiling Haitians and Haitian-Dominicans and Haitian-looking Dominicans
to death, while genocide was, in fact, in the making, Abelard kept his head, eyes,
and nose safely tucked into his books (let his wife take care of hiding his
servants, didnt ask her nothing about it) and when survivors staggered into his
surgery with unspeakable machete wounds, he fixed them up as best he could
without making any comments as to the ghastliness of their wounds."[13]
Yunior thus builds a context for the Dominican history, where the characters are
used just as much in the footnotes as they are in the body of the novel.
Many of the footnotes ultimately connect back to themes of coming to a new
world (underscored through the novels references to fantasy and sci-fi) or having
ones own world completely changed. Trujillos reign as revealed in the footnotes
of the novel becomes just as dystopian as one of Oscars favorite science fiction
novels.
Slang[edit source | editbeta]
Daz moves between several styles in the novel as the narrative shifts to each of
the characters. Oscar's speech reflects an autodidactic language based on his
knowledge of fantasy, 'nerd' literature and his speech is filled with phrases like I
think shes orchidaceous[14] and "I do not move so precipitously",[14] whereas
Yunior "affects a bilingual b-boy flow"[15] and intersperses it with literary
language. The story of the De Lon family is told and collected by the fictional
narrator Yunior and the New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani has described the
voice of the book as "a streetwise brand of Spanglish."[15] He often gives his own
commentary and analysis on the events he is relating in the story and sometimes

reveals failings in his own life, both as a narrator and a person: "Players: never
never never fuck with a bitch named Awilda. Because when she awildas out on
your ass youll know pain for real."[16]
His informal and frequent use of neologisms can be seen in sentences such as a
description of Trujillo as "the Dictatingest Dictator who ever Dictated"[17] or his
description of the effectiveness of Trujillo's secret police force: you could say a
bad thing about El Jefe at eight-forty in the morning and before the clock struck
ten youd be in the Cuarenta having a cattleprod shoved up your ass.[18]
"The Brief Wondrous Life..." also oscillates back and forth between English and
Spanish. Yunior peppers the English-speaking novel with Spanish vocabulary and
phrases and certain English sentences are built with Spanish syntax: "Beli might
have been a puta major in the cosmology of her neighbors but a cuero she was
not."[19]
Oscar lives his life surrounded by the culture of fantasy and as Oscar describes
them,"the more speculative genres",[20] and the language of these cultures is
strewn throughout the book along with Spanish. Brief phrases relating to games
like Dungeons & Dragons and tabletop role-playing game terms are used as
common colloquialisms: "He [Oscar] could have refused, could have made a
saving throw against Torture, but instead he went with the flow."[21]
Reliability[edit source | editbeta]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the
claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original
research may be removed. (June 2013)
Because Yunior is a third person narrator who observes the life of Oscar Wao, his
accountability is often questioned. For example, in chapter one, Yunior recalls
Oscar cried often for his love of some girl or another. Cried in the bathroom,
where nobody could hear him(24), but how would the narrator know Oscar did
such thing if nobody heard him? If the narrator had heard Oscar, then the
statement would not be correct, and if Oscar had told him, then it brings up the
question of the accountability of a depressed characters recollection of being
isolated. Furthermore, in chapter three, Yunior recites how Trujillos men beat
[Beli] like she was a slave...her clavicle, chicken-boned; her right humerus, a
triple fracture; five ribs, broken; left kidney, bruised; liver, bruised; right lung,
collapsed; front teeth, blown out(147). There is an extreme amount of detail in
this sentence regarding how damaged Beli was at the time. However, he later
mentions the details of this beating shall never [be known] because its not
something she talked about(147). If Beli never talked about it, then how did
Yunior know, in such details, of this event? But if Beli did tell him, or anyone else,
then the claim that she never told is untrue, which makes the readers question
how much of the story is actually fabricated by Yunior. In fact, all of chapter three
tells the story of Beli that does not seem to be known by many. According to the
chapter, shes been through many hardships because of the curse of fuk: the

last few days in Dominican Republic she was in the grips of the Darkness,
passed through her days like a shade passes through life(160). However, from
chapter two, which tells Lolas story from her own perspective, she does not
seem to appreciate or even understand Belis harshness and violence on her.
From her side, she only feels that Beli would hit us anywhere, in front of anyone,
always free with the chanclas and the correa(54). She does not seem to be
aware that Belis way of love is expressed through violence. The reason why Beli
believes this is the way to teach her children is because of what she experienced
with La Inca in Dominican Republic, where La Inca would never hit her. This
reason would be clear to Lola if she had known the story of Beli, yet she only
feels that things had been bad between [Beli and me] all year(55). If Lola, Belis
daughter, is unaware of Belis fuk stories, then how did Yunior? Furthermore, it is
later revealed that Lola and Yunior have a very intimate relationship. Even if
somehow Yunior had heard the stories from Beli or La Inca, why would Lola not
know? Yuniors source of information for Belis stories is unclear, and the reason
why Yunior would know more of the Cabral familys history than Lola Cabral is
also questionable.
Magical Realism[edit source | editbeta]
The novel first hints the style of magical realism by stating that the notion of fuk
and zaf were popular in locations like Macondo, a fictional town used as the
main setting in the Gabriel Garcia Marquezs novel One Hundred Years of
Solitude. As the novel A Hundred Years of Solitude is renowned for its elegant use
of magical realism, the narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
expresses that this novel will also be heavily intertwined with the concept of fuk
and zafa as the novels contents are filled with fuk and zaf. Surely enough,
many magical, supernatural events occur in the novel such as the godlike
mongooses rescuing Belicia and Lola, and those events are narrated with
mundane tone as if they were natural.
Magical realism of the novel serves a crucial purpose by enabling the
juxtaposition of the supernatural, intangible being and a mortal. With magical
realism and the following quote from the narrator, It was believed, even in
educated circles, that anyone who plotted against Trujillo would incur a fuk most
powerful, down to the seventh generation and beyond,[22] the novel equates
the two main antagonists of the story, fuk and Trujillo, by describing Trujillo as
supernaturally powerful as fuk. Thanks to this juxtaposition, when Trujillo
becomes assassinated, the novel successfully conveys that even the most
powerful supernatural being can be defeated, ultimately implying the theme
Nothing is impossible.
Themes and motifs[edit source | editbeta]

The Mongoose[edit source | editbeta]

Mongooses appear throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao as
guardians of the family. The mongoose is known for its sociability and cunning.

Like the de Leon family, the mongoose is an immigrant, an invasive, non-native

species. The mongoose was transplanted westward to the Dominican Republic,
just as Oscars family was forced out of the Dominican Republic. Diaz has stated
the importance of the mongoose as being alien, creating an other-worldly quality
to its assistance.[23] Furthermore, in a footnote, the mongoose is described as
an enemy of kingly charriots, chains, and hierarchies... an ally of Man,[24]
suggesting the mongooses importance in helping the de Leon family not just for
their misfortune but also as a means of undermining Trujillos oppression.
At the most superficial level, the Mongoose can be equated with the zafa, the
counterspell to the familys fuk. For example, when Beli is beaten in the
canefield, a creature that would have been an amiable mongoose if not for its
golden lion eyes and the absolute black of its pelt [25] motivates Beli and sings
to her to guide her out of the canefield. The creature acts as her protector, saving
her after the atrocities just committed against her. The Mongoose further stops a
bus directly in front of her, preventing her from being hit and providing her
transportation to safety. Similarly, Oscar remembers a Golden Mongoose which
appeared just before he throws himself from the bridge [26] and again when he is
beaten in the canefield for the first time.[27] In the canefield, the Mongoose talks
to Oscar and saves him just as Beli was saved. Furthermore, just as the singing
mongoose leads Beli to safety, a singing voice leads Clives to Oscar.
This symbolic relationship is heightened by the transient nature of the Mongoose,
disappearing as suddenly as it appears. Each time the mysterious animal appears
in a time of dire need, the narrator includes a disclaimer on the accuracy in the
visions of the creature. In the case of Beli in the cane fields, the narrator shares
that whether her encounter with the mongoose was a figment of Belis wracked
imagination or something else altogether cannot be determined (149). Whether
or not this creature is a figment of the young womans imagination, it led her to
safety and provided hope in a situation where death seemed imminent. In having
this character take on such a surreal nature with characteristics not found in most
mongooses, such as the ability to talk and vanishing in the blink of an eye, Diaz
establishes an uncertainty that mirrors the controversies over whether
superstitions exist. While the encounters with the creature may or may not have
happened, their significance in the book still holds strong just like the
superstitions, because no matter what you believe, the fuk believes in you (5).
The connection between a superstition and a magical character is more easily
followed than one with an ordinary animal, highlighting the mongoose being a
zafa against the de Leons fuk.
Power of Appearance[edit source | editbeta]
Beli understood how advantageous appearance is in the social situations of the
Dominican Republic, but not until she had undergone major physical and
psychological changes. Beli desired the same romantic experience as Oscar,
despising school in her early years from being completely alone (83). Her
loneliness, derived from her defensive and aggressive and mad overactive
personality that pushed people miles away from her. Unlike Oscar, however, her
predicament reversed, becoming not one of a lack of power, but an abundance.

She had to chose whether or not to take advantage of her new curvaceous body
which puberty had generously bestowed upon her. With these new curves she
was thrown into a world where she could get what she wanted, where she was
given attention without having to ask for it. Her model-like body presented her
with the relationships that she could have never attained otherwise. After
recovering from her initial shock of the metamorphosis, she discovered how her
desirability was in its own way, Power (94). She had been presented with a
magical sceptre that allowed her to satisfy her desires. Asking her not to abuse
that power was akin to, as Daz says it asking the persecuted fat kid not to use
his recently discovered mutant abilities (94). By utilizing her appearance, she
gained a complete understanding of the influences of her body.
The power of appearance in the era of Trujillo can not be underestimated, as seen
by its dangerous consequences in the de Len family history. Abelard Luis Cabral,
Oscars grandfather, learned this first hand after repeatedly refusing to bring his
first-born daughter Jacquelyn to Trujillos events. Trujillos rapacity towards
women knew no bounds, employing hundreds of spies whose entire job was to
scour the provinces for his next piece of ass (217). Trujillos appetite for ass was
insatiable (217), pushing him to do unspeakable things. His culture of placing
appearance above all else does nothing to deemphasize appearance in
Dominican culture, seeing as in a normal political atmosphere people follow their
leaders, much less in the tightly controlled Trujillan dictatorship. Abelard, by
withholding his daughters off-the-hook looks (216) from Trujillo, he was in
effect committing treason (217). His actions eventually resulted in Trujillo
arranging for his arrest and eighteen-year sentence, where he was brutally
beaten and treated to an endless series of electric shock treatments (237).
During his imprisonment, Socorro committed suicide, Jackie was found drowned
in a pool, Astrid is struck by a stray bullet, and his third child is born (248-250).
Abelard and Socorros third child, a daughter they name Belicia, was born
black, a terrible thing for the Dominicans, who viewed having a child of black
complexion as an ill omen (248). They felt so strongly about this that Yunior,
offering his own opinion, comments I doubt anybody inside the family wanted
her to live, either (252). She eventually was tossed around the extended family
and eventually sold, yes Thats right-she was sold (253). All of these
tragedies as a result of the desire for a beautiful young lady, a by product of the
preeminence given to physical appearance.
Even under Trujillo, however, the power of appearance is called into the question,
as appearance's power ultimately takes second place to the power of words.
Cabral is incarcerated, tortured and almost destroyed at least in part as a result
of words he has spoken and written, and Trujillo has Cabral's entire library,
including any sample of his handwriting, destroyed. As Trujillo never attempts to
sleep with Jackie, the narrator and reader are left to wonder if at some level the
motivation for this family ruin has to do with silencing a powerful voice.
Literary Allusions[edit source | editbeta]

Comic books, science-fiction, and fantasy literature all play an important role in
Oscar's upbringing and identity, and each is incorporated into the novel to reflect
the world he lives in. Diaz has said that to dismiss the novel's reflexivity with
fiction and fantasy is to do to the novel "exactly what Oscar suffered from, which
is that...Oscars interests, his views of the world, were dismissed as illegitimate,
as unimportant, as make-believe",[28] and that the novel asks the reader "to
take not only Oscar seriously but his interests seriously."[28]
Comic Books[edit source | editbeta]
The novel opens with the epigraph: Of what import are brief, nameless livesto
Galactus?[29] Diaz has said that this question can be read as being directed at
the reader, "because in some ways, depending on how you answer that question,
it really decides whether you're Galactus or not."[30] In the Fantastic Four comic
book however, Galactus is asking the question of Uatu the Watcher, whose role is
played out in Diaz's novel by the narrator Yunior, indicating to Diaz that the
question is both a "question to the reader but also a question to writers in
general."[31]
Early in the novel, Diaz aligns Oscar with comic book superheroes: "You want to
know what being an X-man feels like? Just be a smart bookish boy of color in a
contemporary U.S. ghetto...Like having bat wings or a pair of tentacles growing
out of your chest."[32] Diaz hints at possible latent abilities or qualities Oscar
may possess that will reveal themselves or develop later in the novel.
The novel describes the history of relationships between dictators and journalists
in terms of comic book rivalries as well: Since before the infamous Caesar-Ovid
war theyve [dictators and writers] had beef. Like the Fantastic Four and Galactus,
like the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, like the Teen Titans and
Deathstroke[33]
There is also a strong suggestion that the fantastical element of Oscars life is a
powerful method for him to relate to other people and to the world around him.
When he examines his own body in the mirror he feels "straight out of a Daniel
Clowes book. Or like the fat blackish kid in Beto Hernndez's Palomar."[34]
Oscar's vast memory of comic books and Fantasy/Science-fiction is recalled
whenever he is involved in the text, and his identity is multiform, composed of
scraps of comic book marginalia.
Diaz creates a distinct link between human beings' performative nature and the
masks required to express it, and the masks worn by superheroes. When Oscar
meets Ana, one of the many women with whom he falls in love, he notices
different aspects of her life and "there was something in the seamlessness with
which she switched between these aspects that convinced him that both were
masks".[35] Diaz connects the removal of masks with both the intimacy that
springs from vulnerability and the concept of identity, hidden or otherwise.
Oscar's infinite capacity for empathy and connection with other human beings is
a superpower in its own right. Contemporary masculinity and contemporary
power structures leave no room for vulnerability, but for Diaz, "the only way to

encounter a human is by being vulnerable."[36] The 'man with no face' who

reoccurs in several parts of the novel can also be read as a sort of mask
embodying the fuk.
Fantasy/Science-fiction[edit source | editbeta]
Diaz frequently uses references to works of science-fiction and fantasy. These
references serve both to illuminate the world that Oscar lives in and create a
parallel between the supernatural events in fantasy literature and the history of
the Dominican Republic. In the opening pages of the novel, the narrator quotes
Oscar as having said What more sci-fi than Santo Domingo? What more fantasy
than the Antilles?[37] One of Diaz's frequent references to J.R.R. Tolkien comes
when he describes Trujillo: "Homeboy dominated Santo Domingo like it was his
very own private Mordor."[38] In another section, Felix Wenceslao Bernardino, an
agent of Trujillo is metaphorically described as the Witchking of Angmar.
Near the end of the book Diz comprehensively links the fantasy world of MiddleEarth with the world of the Dominican Republic and the novel.
At the end of The Return of the King, Saurons evil was taken by a great wind
and neatly blown away, with no lasting consequences to our heroes; but Trujillo
was too powerful, too toxic a radiation to be dispelled so easily. Even after death
his evil lingered. Within hours of El Jefe dancing bien pegao with those twentyseven bullets, his minions ran amokfulfilling, as it were, his last will and
vengeance. A great darkness descended on the Island and for the third time since
the rise of Fidel people were being rounded up by Trujillos son, Ramfis, and a
good plenty were sacrificed in the most depraved fashion imaginable, the orgy of
terror funeral goods for the father from the son. Even a woman as potent as La
Inca, who with the elvish ring of her will had forged within Ban her own personal
Lothlrien, knew that she could not protect the girl against a direct assault from
the Eye.
Twice in the novel the mantra "Fear is the mindkiller" is repeated. The phrase
originated in the Frank Herbert novel Dune and Oscar uses it to try and quell his
own fear near the end of the story, to no avail.
Also, Diaz references Stephen King on a number of occasions, including a
reference to Captain Trips, the fictional virus that wipes out mankind in The
Stand, and a mention of being "flung into the macroverse" by "the ritual of
Chud", a nod to the ending of It.
Critical reception[edit source | editbeta]

The novel was an overwhelming critical success, appearing in over thirty-five

best-of-the-year book lists [39] and winning the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize,
[40] the Dayton Peace Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award as
well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008. New York magazine named it the Best
Novel of the Year and Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it #1 of the Top 10

Fiction Books of 2007, praising it as "a massive, heaving, sparking tragicomedy".

[41]
Adaptations[edit source | editbeta]

A staged version of the novel, called Fuk Americanus, was adapted by Sean San
Jose and co-directed by San Jose and Marc Bamuthi Joseph through San Joses
Campo Santo theatre company in 2009.[42] The production received mixed
reviews, with one critic stating that "Fuk" doesn't show us how that works or
what the curse has to do with anything... for that, you have to read the
book."[43]
Feature Film[edit source | editbeta]
The novel's film rights were optioned by Miramax Films and producer Scott Rudin
in 2007.[44] Director Walter Salles and writer Jose Rivera (The Motorcycle Diaries)
were hired by Rudin to adapt the novel.[45] According to Diaz, Miramax's rights
on the book have expired since.[46]