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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao Summary

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The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao Summary
Proceeding the 335 pages that make up Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an excerpt from a poem by Derek Walcott entitled “The Schooner Fight” that ends on the line “either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation.” Diaz’s novel follows the character of Oscar, as well as the entire Leon-Cabral family, and their relation to diaspora from the Dominican Republic. Through the eyes of narrator Yunior, readers come to understand the complications of preserving one’s own national-identity within a foreign population. The character’s within the novel, much like the speaker of Walcott’s poem, feel the immense responsibility of representing their entire nation as singular individuals. However, in the same moment, their role as minorities within
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