Analysis of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Where there is love, there is life”. Human beings cannot live a fulfilled life without love of some kind. In Junot Diaz’s Novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” we see that love plays a vital role. Love, or the lack of it, impacts each individual in the story and leads them to become reckless or grow stronger. Whether its love from a parent, from a friend, or a significant other, we need it to function, to grow, and to be able to accept ourselves. At a young age, Oscar was what nowadays you may call a “player”, he had girls left and right and at times couldn’t even decide which one he wanted more. He was “one of those preschool loverboys who was always trying to kiss the girls, always coming up behind them during a merengue and giving them the pelvic pump” (p.11). However, one day Oscar lost his touch; it could have been the Fuku, the Dominican family curse, but that did not matter because Oscar was no longer the “player” he used to be. He languished in his room playing video games, eating and becoming larger and writing his fiction novels. There was no love, no social life and the only females he would speak to on a daily basis were his mother and sister. The dilemma was the moment Oscar would come into contact with another girl, he would fall head over heels “in love”. He would dream about her day and night admiring every perfect quality and flaw she had, Oscar became obsessive. But, Oscar was severely depressed, he even tried to kill himself when the girl he loved did not love him back. When one is not exposed to love one loses all their self worth. Oscar may have had other issues that caused his depression, but the force of love is so strong and so crucial for the survival of a human being that without it one can almost wither away, as Oscar did. Lola, who we see as a strong independent Dominican woman, at first cannot be pictured any other way. The moment her point of view is exposed to us, the brave and courageous woman