Response 5

In the first half of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the author uses many different techniques to make us understand where the characters are coming from. The first half of the book is split in three different parts: “Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World,” “Wildwood,” and “The Three Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral”. Each part is about a different character, and each is narrated quite differently.

In “Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World” we learn about Oscar’s perspective on the world. But we don’t learn this through first person but in omniscient yet centered third person. Meaning it is all about Oscar, but there are parts where the narrator tells us what others think about him. And people think a lot of different things about him. Since Oscar is different than most lower class Latin boys. For one, he is not super ghetto. He actually is a white washed nerd. You know, the kid with all the comic books, sci fi, who does not have much luck with anyone, and likes books more than people. I can relate to Oscar, but I have never been lower class. My family back in Mexico are the kind of people that can pay for private school, but I am going off track. This paragraph is given to Oscar and how the diction used in the part shows how big a disconnection there is between him and everyone else. While everyone else is using there grammatically incorrect Spanglish, Oscar is using big words that only makes people hate him. And in a lower class Latin community it’s strange for someone to act like they’re not Latin. I know no one believed me when I told them I was Mexican, because not only was a light skinned but I was really educated and white washed. They did not know how to take it so they ignored me and went back to their ghetto lifestyle. A lifestyle I will never too fond of, but like Oscar there was a time in my life where I tried to be like them. It went horribly. Pretty much because of the diction I understood how Oscar felt, how the community he lived in affected him, and how Americanized he truly was.

Next there is “Wildwood” which is in the perspective of Lola, Oscar’s sister. This part is extremely different than the other two, because it is actually in first person. Because of this we see how she takes in all the things that were only hinted to in Oscar’s section. In this one we get of the feel of the mother and daughter relationship between Lola and her mother. And we understand what caused Lola to go into her rebellious stage. Since their mother was not any easy person to live with, and the cancer did not make her any easier. That actually really reminds me of my father because he was the same way. You know, hardworking and just tough. Then he gets in an accident and he can’t do anything he used to. So he lives on the couch and does not want me grow up. But the mother is this story is far tougher than my father, and far smarter. Like that part where the mother was chasing Lola and pretended to have gotten hurt, but was just playing. That’s my favorite part, because it just a perfect picture of how both of them are. The mother is just so tricky and such a stubborn woman, and the daughter is like most girls at her age who are just trying to run away. But no matter how far they run away they always go back. Anyway in this passage we learn a lot more about all the characters. We see how shy and awkward Oscar really is. How evil the mother is. How differently they all take in the mother’s illness. And then we see how La Inca really cares about all of them. How different Lola lives in her mother’s old home, and how it changes her by bringing her back into her Latin roots. The dialect during that part of that passage just lifts us into this third world country. It makes you understand where they are all coming from

Then there’s “The Three Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral” which really connects to the past sections because it shows you why their mother is such a bitch. It also shows you how she lived while in her home country. This part returns the voice to the narrator, but only more focused on Beli. But the narrator seems like someone who was told this story from Beli, and this makes me wonder if this narrator is Oscar. The diction used in this passage shows the naivety Beli had in her youth. It shows you how completely infatuated she was with idea with love, but it also shows you how much she loved attention. Then the diction used by everyone else makes you believe they are who are told. Like the Chinese girl and how she barely knows Spanish. My favorite part is why she ran up to Beli when she purposely was showing assets and buttoned her shirt up for her while “You showing.” This section makes you understand how she became one of the darkest characters in this book. She is the character that is like most people those who come to America: bad youth, hard workers, and dreamers of that American Dream.

All of these parts may be different but they obviously connect and have similar qualities. Like how they are all coming of age stories about these three main characters. They all show how these characters grew up and how they became who they are. Then two of the major techniques that are used are how the author uses Spanish in the dialect and footnotes. By using the Spanish not only do you get a bigger feel about how they were raised and how they are lower class Latin Americans, but you are also completely put inside their life. And I am assuming that Diaz did not just write this for lower class Latin Americans. Since not all Latins are like the Wao kids, and that is pretty apparent in this book. So because Diaz knew who his audience probably was going to be he had to make the situations more realistic to those who could not completely relate or understand. That must also be the reason he adds in the footnotes, because in our history classes we don’t learn about the struggles of third world countries. They hint some things in the history books, but unless you live in the Dominican Republic or are Dominican all of that is alien to you. And if he did not add those footnotes a lot of us would be majorly confused.