Oscar Wao

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao focuses heavily on the stereotypes of Dominican masculinity and its importance in the culture, as well as what happens to those who deviate from the norm. Oscar, the central focus of the novel, is very obviously outside of the norm and suffers for it, both internally and externally; Yunior, the narrator, has similar issues in fitting the ideal masculine identity, but he hides it well and instead seems to struggle with how he is expected to behave and how he wishes to behave more than with any external forces.

The first lines of part one of book are the first description of Oscar, and they automatically dismiss the idea that he was “one of those Dominican cats everybody’s always going on about” (Diaz 12). He might have been when he was younger, but the story that Yunior is telling centers around his life as a “GhettoNerd at the End of the World” (Diaz 12). Oscar’s physical appearance and mental approach to life set him apart, and his difficulty getting women heightens that. Over the course of the novel, he struggles more and more with the image that he has. When Yunior first met him, Oscar “couldn’t so much as see a cute girl without breaking into shakes” (Diaz 173). He saw himself turning into “an old bitter dork” incapable of finding women or love (Diaz 269), and this so contradicts the image of the traditional Dominican man that he struggles to accept himself. Oscar holds his ground and maintains his image despite the bullying, but he never learns to be proud of himself and his accomplishments because he cannot fill this role.

Yunior, on the other hand, tries to be a perfect example of what a Dominican man is believed to be. He has multiple relationships ad affairs and even describes himself as having “pussy coming out [his] ears” (Diaz 185). Yunior enjoyed some of the movies that Oscar did, and he wrote his own pieces as well, but he knew how to hide that side of himself in order to appear more masculine. This was where he differed from Oscar, primarily, and it worked in his favor for a long time. In the end, though, it caused him a great deal of trouble when he did want to have an honest relationship. This is revealed through his relationship with Lola; he promises her not to try anything or to lie, even though he knows that it isn’t how their relationship will go (Diaz 199). When Oscar interrogates him on why he keeps cheating on Lola, Yunior says “if [he] knew that, it wouldn’t be a problem” (Diaz 313), and seems genuinely upset by it. The idea of Dominican males having multiple relationships is one that he has spent his entire life trying to embody, and he has a hard time setting that aside even when it really matters.