Abstract
Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer-Prize-Winning 2007 novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores Dominican masculinity through narrator Yunior de Las Casas’s portrayal of protagonist Oscar de León’s family history. Yunior’s perceived virility shapes his understanding of masculinity, which he stresses through the novel’s plot and structure. This analysis considers how Yunior constructs Dominican masculinity through his narrative by marginalizing and emasculating passive characters such as Oscar. I argue that Yunior’s narrative closely links definitions of masculinity and power as he strives to dominate passive characters in order to assert his virility as the “best” method for being a Dominican man.
Thesis Record URL
Location
Buller Hallway
Start Date
3-6-2015 2:30 PM
End Date
3-6-2015 4:00 PM
P-14 Discourse and Narrative: Creating Gender Control in Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Buller Hallway
Junot Diaz’s Pulitzer-Prize-Winning 2007 novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explores Dominican masculinity through narrator Yunior de Las Casas’s portrayal of protagonist Oscar de León’s family history. Yunior’s perceived virility shapes his understanding of masculinity, which he stresses through the novel’s plot and structure. This analysis considers how Yunior constructs Dominican masculinity through his narrative by marginalizing and emasculating passive characters such as Oscar. I argue that Yunior’s narrative closely links definitions of masculinity and power as he strives to dominate passive characters in order to assert his virility as the “best” method for being a Dominican man.
Acknowledgments
J.N. Andrews Honors Scholar
Advisor: Vanessa Corredera, English