Oscar Wao Dehumanize Women

In certain societies in today’s modern world, it is seen as something acceptable to dehumanize women to merely an object. To diminish the existence of women just so that a man can be accepted is, in my eyes, something utterly absurd and should not even be an idea in any culture. Throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz, the reader distinguishes that in the Dominican Republican communities, is it known that in order to be accepted by society, men have to be able to be “good with the girls”. Oscar Wao, one of the characters, does experience this. The readers can see that this act dehumanizes women in that society reducing their existence by being objectified, pressures the girls in that society to look/act a certain way,
and in some odd ways threatens both the girls and the boys to have a good relationship. The reader can make note that if a man is not seen to be “good with the girls” then he is either not accepted by society, or in the long run, both the boy and the girl will be unlucky with love in the future. In the book, there are many incidents that prove that women were objectified and our societies should not replicate this kind of behavior. Even though many people in our society understand the extensity of dehumanizing women, many still go to limits where they show the female gender in a negative way. In our society today, women should not be dehumanized, but rather shun in a better light due to the utterly ridiculous phenomena that make men seem more powerful than women. Women are objectified every day, especially in societies that revolve around men having the upper hand with everyday scenarios.
For women, living in these types of societies, it is heartbreaking to see that what our sisters have fought for in the past is just be ignored and is not taken seriously. In the book, it is shown that the character, who is the protagonist of the book and is present in the title of the book, Oscar de León who lives in the Dominican Republic, is expected to be successful with girls. This is not how men should be treating women because women are human beings and not an object that has to be fought for. The main reasons for men to go after these women in these types of societies is to be accepted by the people in the their community. Which is absolutely absurd and should not exist especially in this day and age where women should be seen a beautiful and unique individuals that are not jewels to persuade into a relationship. “…it was just a stroke of pure genius that convinced [Oscar de León] to kick it to them both at once” (Díaz 13-14). In other words, Oscar had somehow persuaded himself that it would be fine to be in a relationship with both girls at the same time. Men like this are seen everywhere doing this kind of injustice to women. Usually, these kinds of incident always end up in one or multiple people being emotionally hurt. In the story, Oscar was in a relationship with Olga Polanco and Maritza Chacón. Maritza demanded Oscar choose between both girls, and after a bit of thinking Oscar had chosen Maritza, but he is later rejected by Maritza and is left heartbroken. Oscar thought that having two girlfriends, he would be able to choose whichever one he would like to actually continue having a relationship, but it slaps him in the face when he realizes he can’t keeping women like that and it is morally
incorrect. Media plays a huge role in today’s technologically advanced world. It can make women, who don’t look like those portrayed in media, feel demeaned and inferior to those who do. Sometimes media doesn’t have to play a part in making others think that the a women’s body is worthless. This can be seen in the book when, Beli is struggling to get the attention of the man she is in love with, Jack Pujols, before hitting puberty. She is bullied not only for the fact that she is poor but also for that she is dark-skinned. She fails at getting Jack’s attention which makes her sad. She later hits puberty and develops into a curvaceous woman. This is when she is granted the attention of Jack’s. “Telling Beli not to flaunt those curves would have been like asking the persecuted fat kid not to use his recently discovered mutant abilities…Our girl ran into the future that er new body represented and never ever looked back” (Díaz 94). “Later, after she'd been with the Gangster, she would realize how little respect Pujols had for her” (Díaz 100). In other words, Beli realized that Pujols was only after one thing and one thing only. This is dehumanizing to women and not only does it make the women in the relationship feel very hurt, but makes you feel used and worthless. Many women in today’s society have trust issues with men who are known to use women for their sexual frustrations. This can mentally scar women who go through this kind of abuse and lead to future problems. The idea where a male had to “win over” a female is pretentious on its own, and should not be a mandatory act win order to be accepted by others. This alone puts a massive load of stress upon someone's shoulders when trying to find “the right person”. It threatens both the girls and the boys to have a good relationship. In certain cultures, both the male and the female int he relationship go through the effort of finding a person that connects well with them, but if the relationship doesn't end in an orderly fashion, then there could be certain consequence applied to both sides. In the book, it explains that the Oscar’s first relationship where he was in a relationship with Maritza and with Olga at the same time, and since nobody, in the end, was happy, Oscar felt devastated. “ It seemed to Oscar that from the moment Maritza dumped him—Shazam!—his life started going down the tubes” (Díaz 16). In other words, Oscar felt his whole world fall ofter he was dumped my Maritza and he was hurting very much. Usually, when anyone ends a relationship, it can be very sad fro both sides, but in the end, the couple ended the relationship because they both knew it wasn’t working out. To conclusion, women should see as the human being who are not objects and they should be shown in a better light. Some culture in today’s society have customs that dehumanize the women intros countries and we should be moving away from that lifestyle where we shun women and treat them without human equality. In the book, he readers can see that the dehumanizes women is a major act that is performed in that society, that there are pressures on girls in that society to look/act a certain way, and lastly, the society that Oscar lives in, in a way threatens both the girls and the boys to have a good relationship Do you believe that we should still be living in the world where women are seen as objects and are treated as a prize that one would win in a competition.