Vanessa Hernandez
20 October 2010
The American Dream. Oh how magnificent and grand of an image, looming over the heads of the third world people. Like a carrot dangling over a yearning donkey, it tells people that with hard work anything can happen. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Juno Diaz depicts a realistic version of the American experience by using Oscar as a tragic example. Simply, the American Dream is unachievable, no matter how much you work or save up, racial issues limit anyone from fully climbing up any ladder. Sure you can have a bite of the carrot, but not the whole vegetable garden.
Oscar is a complete outcast; comic book reading, video game playing, babe fantasizing, awkward mustached nerd. Not only is this bad, but he is much darker than the pale porcelain skinned nerds of America who prosper in the light of society. Oscar’s African heritage forces him to live in the shadows of culture because he chooses to submerge himself in one that just still withholds boundaries.
Even in the Dominican Republic, where the majority of people tend to have dark skin, Oscar sticks out like a sore thumb; however, I feel this is mainly due to his choice. Though Oscar is presented as a tragic character (never fully feeling accepted in any aspect of his life), he forces this upon himself by choosing to reject his culture of fuku and mysticism to embrace the commercial pop culture of America, a culture that won’t embrace him even though Uncle Sam says he will.
Some good ideas in here. I like how you focus on the ways in which Oscar is outcast from the communities he tries to inhabit. You say that Oscar's exile because of his nerdiness is "mainly due to his choice." So what choice is he making? It's not like he can't see that this is causing him problems, so why do you think he can't break away from it? He could pick some other US pop-culture object to focus on that wouldn't alienate him so much. Why do you think he chooses this one?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting you bring up Oscar's race as a limiting factor in his access to The American Dream. Do you think that Diaz is showing us that Oscar is specifically exiled from mainstream American culture? When does this happen? What are examples of Oscar being blocked from The American Dream?
Perhaps some of the answers to these questions lies in this sentence: "Oscar’s African heritage forces him to live in the shadows of culture because he chooses to submerge himself in one that just still withholds boundaries."
To be honest, I'm not really sure what you mean here. The "withholds boundaries" part really throws me.
In your final paragraph, I feel like you're really getting to something. You say that "he forces this upon himself by choosing to reject his culture of fuku and mysticism to embrace the commercial pop culture of America, a culture that won’t embrace him." Except I'm not sure this is totally true. Does Oscar choose to reject the mysticism of DR culture? How does he do this? It seems like DR culture reject HIM in many ways, too. Not only that, but the sci-fi/fantasy nerdiness culture absolutely accepts him--the attraction of this subculture for Oscar is that it accepts everyone because it is a virtual culture, not an actual one.
One thing that might help explore these issues is to focus on when you're making a declarative statement (like the examples above). Whenever you make one of these, make sure to find some specific example in the text that supports your claim. This does two things: 1) if you're right, it backs-up your statements, and 2) if you're wrong, then it gives you an opportunity to refine your claim. Either way, you win.
Take your discussion further, but you're on the right track=7
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