Oscar Wao Masculinity

In his historical novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz illuminates the dysfunctionality of the hyper-sexualized culture of the Dominican Republic through the juxtaposition of the fukú, or curse, the fictional legacy of the deLeon family, and the historical oppressive regime of Rafael Trujillo. As the hostile dictator of the Dominican Republic for 31 years, Trujillo’s embodiment of a masculinity characterized by terror, abuse, and the objectification of women, develops into the image of a typical Dominican male. Manifesting the society’s conventional perception of the interchangeability of aggressive masculinity and authoritative power, Diaz asserts that although not entirely independent from his false masculinity, Trujillo’s
,As an inactive participant in many of the events he portrays, Yunior is unable to identify as a primary source of the family’s history; he, like the reader, lacks authority because he is just another recipient of the tale. This qualifies Yunior as an outsider attempting to empathize with the deLeon family. However, despite the reality of the lack of experience in the events he shares, Yunior is able to reclaim authority when he introduces the curse, thereby allowing him to acquire the position as the narrator. As seen at the very beginning of the novel, prior to his revelation as the primary narrator, Yunior opens with the phrase, “They say it first came from Africa” (1). In this, Yunior presents the curse in a manner that is understood to sound like a rumor or gossip. Although he risks subjecting himself to the classification as an immature and unstable narrator, Yunior’s reliance on hearsay immediately distinguishes his narrative from the profound precision that is typically associated with history. As seen when Yunior questions, “Where in coñazo fo you think the so-called cure of the Kennedys comes from? How about Vietnam? Why do you think the greatest power in the world lost its first war to a Third World country like Vietnam?” Yunior skillfully forces the reader’s, though questionable,
As seen when he claims, “It’s perfectly fine if you don’t believe in these ‘superstitions.’ In fact, it’s better than fine- it’s perfect. Because no matter what you believe, fukú believes in you,” Yunior makes it very clear that the reader’s belief in the curse in unnecessary (5). In this, Yunior isolates fukú so that it dominates any competing factors, including the predisposed beliefs that the reader may have, making it the presiding power over his narrative. Also, by explicitly sharing his disregard for the reader’s belief in the curse, Yunior reaffirms the power and accountability he holds as the narrator of the story and asserts his belief in the vulnerability of history and narratives because they are susceptible to interpretation and distortion. Although the reader is able to decipher a story as they please, the narrator has selective dominion over what should and should not be included. This reality regarding the subjective nature of history, which is strengthened by inclusion of the supernatural curse, grants Yunior free reign over the portrayal of the deLeon family; he is able to use his own fantasies and imagination, rather than factual evidence, to devise his explanations for the events that he did not experience