The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
begins with poet Derek Walcott's lines: “I have Dutch, nigger, and English in me, and
either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation.” So, Diaz's focus is on cultural assimilation: we
are more alike ("a nation") than we are different
("nobody").
In the novel, Diaz focuses primarily on black
Dominicans, black by skin color, descended from Africa, but living in a culture that
choose lightness over darkness and straight hair over kinky. Males seem more at home in
their skin than females. Beli abhors her blackness. She is a victim of the sexist male
culture (machismo) and the racist culture (light-skinned against black-skinned
Latinos).
The novel focuses on the New World immigrant
(Hispanic / Latino / Afro-Caribbean), the largest wave of contemporary immigration.
Diaz plays with the stereotypes of Dominican male virility, using Yunior as his
meathead narrator. Oscar asks his roommate one
night:
"I have
heard from a reliable source that no Dominican male has ever died a virgin. You who have
experience in these matters--do you think this is
true?"
The book also focuses
on the "ghetto nerd" culture and all its sub-cultures. Yunior knows the dorkiest of
sci-fi and Marvel comic book references:
"My shout-out to Jack Kirby aside, it's hard as a
Third-Worlder not to feel an affinity with Uatu the
Watcher."
Here are other
cultures assimilated in this pastiche:
•Science fiction:
e.g., Isaac Asimov
•Fantasy: e.g., Lord of the
Rings
•Comic book: e.g., Spider Man
•Literary: e.g., Oscar
Wilde
•Pop Culture (Media): e.g., Dr. No, Land of
the Lost
•Dominican History: e.g.,
Trajillo
No one could possible read Oscar 50 years from now
and discern all the esoteric cultural allusions without footnotes or marginalia. In
this way, Diaz makes us all feel like an immigrant or a minority, in some way or
another.
Also worth noting is the "Annotated Oscar"
website, which explains all the sci-fi, comic book, and pop culture
allusions:
http://www.annotated-oscar-wao.com/
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