Throughout The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, there is specific attention paid to physical appearance, especially in regards to women. So what are the reasons for the importance of appearance in this novel? The first and obvious reason is the hyper masculinity of the Dominican culture. In such a masculine culture, the appearance and sexuality of women is always emphasized. Another possibility is that Diaz is using his talent for creating different narrative voices to make Yunior’s voice authentic as a Dominicano. To make Yunior fit in with this masculine culture, it would be logical to have him pay special attention to the attractive qualities of the female characters. Finally, another possibility is that the beautiful appearance of the Cabral-de León is tied back in with their ancestor, the beautiful Jackie Cabral. After all, it was her famous beauty that caught the attention of Trujillo and started the Fall in the first place.
It is obvious throughout the book that there is a lot of emphasis on beauty and appearance so I wanted to throw out some thoughts on the reasoning behind it.
*Sorry about the lack of citations. I’m at home this weekend and I left my book at school. Ooops…
The book doesn't seem the least bit ashamed of its celebration of female beauty--especially voluptuous female beauty. I actually feel there's something third-wave feminist about this. Diaz thinks it's okay if part of the reason we love these characters is because of their beauty. (I don't know if that's it exactly, but there's something there...)
ReplyDeleteI can't stop thinking about this issue. It is so completely relevant today! Men and women constantly struggle with the whole inner/outer beauty thing and what all of it means. Man!
ReplyDeleteI also saw this issue and stopped to think about it and how much it does relate to today's society and how men and women are only concerned with whats on the outside like Shelbi said, not what is on the inside and I think this notion is what in a sense ruins Beli, like what happens with the gangster, Jack in the closet and only wanting her for one thing, and later her beauty attracts her husband but doesn't keep him around.
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