The Role of Women in Diaz's Work

Junot Diaz portrays the stereotypical Dominican role of women throughout his three novels, Drown, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and This Is How You Lose Her. Although the female characters in each of these novels are different, they share many of the same hardships frustrations and play fairly similar roles in the lives of the male characters. Throughout his writing, Diaz’s apparent goal, among other things, is to portray the glass ceiling Dominican women are forced to break through if they desire to lead independent lives free of cheating, abusive men.

In Drown, a female character that really stood out was Aurora. At a young age, Aurora had already been involved in numerous abusive relationships with men much older than her, experienced drug addictions, and been to a juvenile detention center. It doesn’t appear that Aurora has any opportunity to improve her situation, yet the reader sees Aurora dreaming of a better life for herself and Yunior (even though Yunior physically and emotionally abuses her). It becomes apparent though, at the end of her chapter, that this life is completely unrealistic for Aurora, an unattainable dream. The story of Aurora is meant to show the reader the way women are treated in Dominican society and the idea that a better life is all but unrealistic.

Diaz portrays the suppressed role of Dominican women in his second novel,Oscar Wao. Beli, Oscar’s mother, experiences the misfortune rooted in her incredibly desirable looks, a blessing and a curse for many women in Diaz’s writing. Beli is the object of desire for many older men, one of which impregnates her and then, upon his wife’s discovery of his affair, abandons her. After being brutally beaten and losing her child, Beli is stricken with more bad luck. She has two children upon moving to America with a man who eventually leaves her, and her daughter grows up to be rebellious and disrespectful of her mother. But Beli does very little to change her situation, and the reader is meant to believe that there is, in fact, nothing she can do.

In This Is How You Lose Her, Yasmin represents another Dominican woman stricken with the trials and tribulations of her culture. As an immigrant, Yasmin is alone in the US. She falls in love with a man, who also happens to have a wife back in the DR. Although Yasmin wants to believe Ramon no longer loves his wife, she continues to send him letters, suggesting that Ramon is writing her back. Although Yasmin possesses much more independence than most of Diaz’s female characters, she is still entirely dependent on Ramon for “happiness” and allows him to get away with whatever he wants.

Diaz’s use of great misfortune in the lives of his female characters represents the subservient and complacent role women play in Dominican culture. Only through abandoning their culture and accepting the backlash that comes with it are Dominican women able to lead independent lives free of both physical and emotional abuse.