In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the author presents the reader with recurring mysterious images and characters. In visual art, repetition of colors, shapes and textures is used to create unity, emphasis and rhythm. Because Diaz is painting his story with words he is using the literary device of repetition for the same reasons, for emphasis, to create a rhythm and to tie the account together. The narrative of Oscar and the Cabral and De Leon families and friends moves back and forth in time and the repetition of images with slight variations is a powerful way of maintaining and connecting the story line or theme in what may seem like a jumble of events. The “man with no face” and “paginas en blanco” , ‘blank pages’ or missing words are just a few of the recurring symbols used to connect past, present and further and to emphasize the predictable yet random feelings and consequences of 'Fuku'. By looking more closely at how and why these symbols were used, the major theme represented in the story of Oscar’s wonderful life, becomes apparent. The novel is a fictional combination of supernatural beliefs …show more content…
She is petrified and if not for Jose (her Chinese boss) she would have been murdered. Book 1, Chapter3: The Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral (1955-1962) It is not clear if this is the same ‘man with no face’ but the feelings that he is the terrible omen of “fuku” and the associations of being without power or choice were the same. The fact that this is a male of violence is also noted in Bali’s struggle. The fight continues when she is tricked, kidnapped, beaten by the Trujillo brutes and eventually left for dead and miscarries. And so, the man with no face was truly a horrible omen of the violence to come or the Fuku at work, but La Inca Bali’s aunt worked prayers and good magic 'Zafa' to save
Oscar Casares creates believable main character in the story “Mrs. Perez” and use figurative language gives the reader visual images. He uses the main character flashbacks of her life and it help the reader understand about Mrs. Perez. Bowling ball became very important in her life and she has many joyful moment during her bowling. Before she become this joyful person, her family has an effect on her life. Oscar Casares embedded Spanish help the reader learn about Mrs. Perez and it helps develop the story.
Oscar is the antithesis of his culture’s idea of manliness. In the beginning we meet an Oscar who is called “Porfirio Rubirosa” (21). Everyone is proud of the boy because this is exactly what he needs to be to be a Dominican man. Men from Dominican Republic, and perhaps Spanish Caribbean men, are expected to take care of their family especially their mothers and sisters, yet they are also expected to be “playboys” who have multiple women. as the first line of the story communicates, “Our hero was not one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about—he wasn’t no home-run hitter or a fly-bachetero, not a playboy with a million hots on his jock” (21). Oscar is the type of man who women say they want; kind, sensitive, considerate, smart, and romantic. He truly want to find true
The themes and idea explored in the novel that shows the life of a peasant in Mexico, most evident in this story are: theme of family, death and revenge. In addition, the author Juan Rulfo became an orphan after he lost his family during the Mexican revolution and he uses this tragic chapter of his life for inspiration in this story. The fact that he did not have a father role model is evident in this story too. Juvencio’s and Don Lupe’s son both of them grew up without the role
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is not a happy book. The Author, Junot Diaz, does a great job fooling the reader into believing the story is about the De Leon family, specifically Oscar who is an over weight nerd trying to find the love of his life, but due to a family “fuku” or curse Oscar is having a lot of trouble doing so. Instead, the story actually portrays the dark history of the Dominican Republic under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Upon reading the stories of Oscar’s relatives the reader feels a powerful message of fear and oppression due to the actions of the Trujillo regime. Even after the demise of
As it unfolds in "The Golden Age" section, Oscar is part of a Dominican-American family that lives in Paterson, New Jersey. As a child he is pushed forward to the opposite sex by his mother, which is very proud about his early signs of virility. This is seen as one of the standing characteristics of Dominican males. Further on, we watch the decline of Oscar's success with women as he gains weight and he deepens himself in literature and isolation. This is caused by Maritza's rejection which affected him profoundly.
Oscar continued to teach at his old high school in New Jersey, sad and depressed everyday for three years, that is until his trip to Santo Domingo. Oscar forgot how much he had missed spending time in the Dominican. His mind was no longer filled to the brim with disappointment, stress and the feeling of being depressed. For the first time in a while, he saw beautiful
“FUKÚ” is an atavistic deadly curse that follows the De León family, and everything that can go wrong for them does. However, I believe that the fukú is only a consequence of their actions and a way for them to rationalize their misfortunes. The characters are using fukú as a crutch in place of taking responsibilities for their own actions. This is because they don’t want to accept the fact that things don’t always go the way they want them to. So they choose to blame the fukú for making their problems happen. So when fukú strikes a mongoose appears it comes as a character of a guardian angel with a sanguine presence. A mongoose is a weasel like animal that appears in the near death experiences of the characters. When it comes it shows a
There are many layers of themes that are subtlety imbedded into the film. The political theme of the film is a truly intriguing portrayal of life in Spain during this tense time. The underlying message of the film is one of defending the freedom of expression. It explores the importance of gaining knowledge through one’s own personal experiences. Culture is used as a pathway to achieve personal freedom. In addition, the film attempts to break some of the taboos surrounding an adequate education, focusing instead on this education through experience. Observation is used as a way to awaken the senses. Another theme that was imbedded in the film was childhood with the inclusion of a vast number of topics. The film not only contains scenes that deal with war but it includes scenes that include family, love, and
The conclusion of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is satisfying because the ending revolved around Oscar’s death, the separate stories of the novel now intertwined because of him. His transformation and new personality was ultimately the cause of his death, but in a sense it can be considered happy because it seems just right. Oscar becomes a new person and breaks free of his nerdy and rejected persona. Diaz seamlessly weaves the ending of Oscar Wao’s story and all the characters around him due to their natures and the preceding actions. The ending of this novel is convincing and logical because of Oscar’s new transformation which led him to do things which he would have not done before. These things that he did, most specifically pursuing a woman he should not have, led him to his death. Despite the morbid ending, it is not unreasonable; it is certainly logical and therefore satisfying to the
One thing all human beings, have in common is the struggle for self identity. Children are raised by parents or guardians who have struggled and fought for their own identities. In many cases, parents are still trying to figure it out, while raising their own children. Such is the case with the characters in Junot Diaz’s, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The theme of identity is conveyed through the characters’ Dominican culture, social standing, and in finding love. Oscar, Lola, and Yunior are three central characters in Oscar Wao, who’s Dominican cultural and family expectations were major obstacles as they struggled to establish their identity.
This essay will be going through the different types of love, and the power that they wield. Throughout the novel, different characters hold different powers of love. First, Clara’s love towards Ferula and Pedro Segundo will be discussed. And second, Esteban’s obsessiveness with Clara will be looked at closer. The bonds of love are stronger in relationships that aren’t acceptable compared to relationships that are acceptable in society.
Miguel Cervantes’ Don Quixote is a masterpiece in many senses of the word: at the time of its conception, it was hailed as a revolutionary work of literature that defined a genre, in later centuries regarded as an acerbic social commentary, a slightly misshapen romantic tragedy, and even as a synthesis of existentialist and post-modernist features. At the centre of this Spanish satirical chronicle is the perplexing character Don Quixote. Don Quixote’s personality and perspective is rapidly established fromsince the beginning of the novel, revealing unabashedly to readers that he is mad. The source of his madness lies in the extent to which Don Quixote acts on his delusions and projections unto reality as he saunters through Cervantes’ Andalusia. Don Quixote’s delusions have two primary functions in the novel: demonstrating the reality and tragedy of Cervantes’ manifestation of idyllic themes of love and chivalry, and revealing certain characteristics about narration.
In the story, Oscar goes through difficult situations to want to interpret the role of the Dominican man. During the story, Oscar seeks a woman who gives him love and makes him feel like a man, but does not have the masculine qualities necessary to achieve his purpose. While his friend Yunior is the opposite, that is, his role in history is a man that women are always behind him by his charms, to the point that he cannot maintain a relationship with a woman because he cannot be faithful.
Readers may find difficulties in identifying what the story is about at the first place and the images created by the author does not illustrate centralizing conception. On the other hand, author used ambiguity which is new criticism and seems tried to give the idea of looking through the glass from the other side. Complexity is in great extent in the story, especially when the writer switches and focuses on Carlos Argentino describing him as an unimpressive and an authoritative individual, therefore this leaves the reader in a confusion state as the essay tries to combine different issues in one understanding (Borges, 1945). The author seems to turn his attention to Carlos as he tries and the reader feels no underpinning or interlocking of the meaning reinforcing the paraphrase expected to be made also the association of the properties in the essay sounds complex for one to comprehend. The most impressive part of the story is ironic how the author views Daneri’s work; he suggests that the work did not lay in poetry but in his invention of reasons for admiring
In Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion, the play of light and shadow are reoccurring motifs that identify and relate to the general themes of remembering and forgetting. H. Porter Abbott has defined motif as “a discrete thing, image, or phrase that is repeated in a narrative”, where in contrast, a theme “is a more generalized…concept that is suggested by… motifs” (237). Abbott emphasizes that “Themes are implicit in motifs, but not the other way around” (95). In In the Skin of a Lion, Ondaatje emphasizes the class struggles endured by the immigrant workers and the internal struggles faced by the central characters. The motif of chiaroscuro, the play of light and shadow, reflects how the characters try to forget their past and personal burdens, and strive to recall joyful memories, which aides them in embracing new beginnings and creating new memories. I will argue that the motif of light relates to the theme of remembering and the motif of shadow identifies with the theme of forgetting. I will show these relationships by analyzing the imagery and context of four central scenes in which light and shadow play a significant role. Firstly, I will discuss the event of the nun falling off the unfinished bridge. Secondly, I will consider the candle-light vigil held for the deceased bridge works. Thirdly, I will discuss the working conditions of the tunnel workers in the section “Palace of Purification”, and lastly, I will analyze the concluding scene in which Patrick and Hana