Silver Linings Mongoose

            A common theme throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the curse that has been lingering in Oscar’s family tree for generations. This curse goes by the name of fukú and “it is believed that the arrival of Europeans on Hispaniola unleashed the fukú on the world” (Díaz 1). Once plagued with this curse, the family that is affected will experience dreadful disasters; but there is still hope for the Cabral family. The “one surefire counterspell that would keep [the Cabral] family safe” goes by the name of zafa and it is what provides a silver lining to this cursed family (Díaz 7).

            Fukú and zafa are present throughout the collection of short stories, but they appear in the form of a man with no face and a golden mongoose. The first time the readers are introduced to fukú is when Beli is confronted by The Gangster’s wife and dragged into a mob car by two men who work for Trujillo. In a moment of hope, she spotted a cop who could help her sitting in a car, but “when he turned toward her she saw that he didn’t have a face” (Díaz 141). This man with no face represents the fukú in her family because in her one time of need, the only person who could help her is stripped of his recognition. He is a reminder that the curse is there and it always knows where she is. 

 Once Trujillo’s men get Beli into a field, they beat her to the brink of death. This is where the zafa comes to help Beli in the form of a golden mongoose who “placed its intelligent little paws on her chest” and encouraged her to get up and stay strong (Díaz 149). This mongoose is the cure to the curse. It is attempting to undo all the wrong that fukú has brought into Beli’s life.

            Beli’s beating is almost exactly replicated years later when Oscar is taken by men to the same field because he was getting too close to a policeman’s girlfriend. Once beaten to the brink of death like his mother, Clives arrives at the field to save Oscar. Due to the darkness he could not find Oscar’s location; it was not until he “heard someone singing” and followed that noise that he arrived upon Oscar’s beaten body (Díaz 300). This singing was the zafa at work and more than likely a mongoose leading Clives to Oscar’s location.

            Fukú has been present in Oscar’s family line since Beli’s father was arrested by Trujillo. It is a terrible curse that leads to the death of an overwhelming majority of his family and friends. But amidst all of this terror and heartbreak, there is a silver lining: a mongoose. Zafa is the cure to the curse and provides the reader with the assurance that even though Oscar’s family is cursed, there is hope for everyone.