Junot Diaz s Truly Does Tell The Brief Story Of The...

Junot Diaz’s novel truly does tell the brief story of the wondrous life of Oscar de Là ©on, our Dominican-American protagonist, better known as Oscar Wao. Weighing in at 245 pounds, our hopeless romantic loves comic books, writes science-fiction in all of his spare time, and, as described by our homodiegetic narrator Yunior, is a â€Å"loser with a capital L† (Diaz 17). While the title might allude that this is a story solely about Oscar, Diaz also delves deep into the lives of those closest to him. This narrative tells the epic journey of Oscar, as well as his family members, and how their experiences in the United States and Dominican Republic come together full-circle at the end of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, with the help of some postmodern techniques. As an immigrant himself, Diaz is able to use his journey to bring attention to the cultural stereotypes of his characters, but unlike many bildungsroman writings, our character’s coming of age story does not provide him with enough spiritual learnings to give him the quintessential happy ending. The overall growth of Oscar only reveals the flaws in his culture, a fatal flaw in his case. Because Oscar does not comply with the Dominican standards, he faces heavy repercussions in his life. As a story told in a fragmented, non-linear form, Yunior is able to recall anecdotes from different time periods, whether of Oscar, his mother Beli, or his sister Lola. Diaz gives his narrator the ability to tell a historical account of