In The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao
convince her to stay in the cane and succumb to her wounds. It is attempting to tamp down the forces resisting it’s rule. The image of the stench “clogg[ing] her throat” depicts it as trying to suffocate her and choke the life out of her. This desperation on the cane’s behalf emphasizes the importance of Beli’s survival. Richardson specifically discusses the importance of Beli’s violation and survival, stating that it “leaves the possibility open for her to produce a line of children in the future that will challenge the fuku and rewrite normative history” (Richardson 32). Despite the tragic circumstances, the death of her child allows for the death of her ties to Trujillo and the hold of its principles on her. In connection to previous points
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made, Beli’s survival allows her to begin a line of resistance.
In the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the Mongoose acts to connect the De Leon’s experience to the long history of slavery and its violent anti-blackness.
This connection allows Diaz to remind his audience of the persistence of such regimes. It works against misconceptions that these problems are things of an ancient past. The Mongoose’s appearance to the De Leons directly connects their modern-day plight against their oppressors to the experience of victims of slavery before them. His call for their survival highlights the importance of continued resistance against these anti-black forces. The Mongoose is reminding the De Leons and readers of the text that the fight against these forces has not finished. These anti-black constructs continue to persecute and alienate black people, as seen when Oscar is treated with “inhuman cheeriness” (Diaz 49) because of his black skin and afro and when Beli is seen as a “sign” of a curse after she is born “black black” (Diaz 248). In a world where “people [take] their child's black complexion as an ill omen” (Diaz 248) and blackness is something to be “obscure[d]” (Diaz 148), it is important that Beli and Oscar, as black humans, not succumb to their beatings as they must survive to lead their predecessors. Similarly, it is important that readers not allow tactics wielded by anti-black regimes to beat them down and imprison them. Succumbing to their tactics, or worse, forgetting that such regimes continue to exist will allow for such
forces to grow unchallenged. The Mongoose calls on its audience to, like it has done for centuries, be an “ally of Man” and continue fighting the “kingly chariots, chains, and hierarchies” (Diaz 149) that wield power and ownership over us.
made, Beli’s survival allows her to begin a line of resistance.
In the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the Mongoose acts to connect the De Leon’s experience to the long history of slavery and its violent anti-blackness.
This connection allows Diaz to remind his audience of the persistence of such regimes. It works against misconceptions that these problems are things of an ancient past. The Mongoose’s appearance to the De Leons directly connects their modern-day plight against their oppressors to the experience of victims of slavery before them. His call for their survival highlights the importance of continued resistance against these anti-black forces. The Mongoose is reminding the De Leons and readers of the text that the fight against these forces has not finished. These anti-black constructs continue to persecute and alienate black people, as seen when Oscar is treated with “inhuman cheeriness” (Diaz 49) because of his black skin and afro and when Beli is seen as a “sign” of a curse after she is born “black black” (Diaz 248). In a world where “people [take] their child's black complexion as an ill omen” (Diaz 248) and blackness is something to be “obscure[d]” (Diaz 148), it is important that Beli and Oscar, as black humans, not succumb to their beatings as they must survive to lead their predecessors. Similarly, it is important that readers not allow tactics wielded by anti-black regimes to beat them down and imprison them. Succumbing to their tactics, or worse, forgetting that such regimes continue to exist will allow for such
forces to grow unchallenged. The Mongoose calls on its audience to, like it has done for centuries, be an “ally of Man” and continue fighting the “kingly chariots, chains, and hierarchies” (Diaz 149) that wield power and ownership over us.