Blog Post 28: ANOTHER ONE. Major Key.

Overall, I like Aberlard's character. He is very wise to handle Trujillo the way he does by keeping a low profile in politics while still maintaining his status as a wealthy social light and scholar. He also manages to help those who have been harmed by Trujillo without showing outward opposition to his reign. His care for his family is one of his most admirable traits, but in the end it is his downfall. He played it smart up until he became sick with worry. Once he let paranoia take over him because he was afraid Trujillo would rape his daughter Jacquelyn, he began drinking and letting every aspect of his life fall apart. As his world came crashing down, he brought more attention to his family and became vulnerable to Trujillo and his secret police. In the end he lost the battle and Trujillo cursed them with fuku.

Diaz makes a wise decision in narrating the story from different perspectives and messing around with the typical chronological order. This makes the book more interesting and allows the reader to experience different outlooks on Dominican culture. Each generation and gender is affected differently by Trujillo's reign and the family curse. It also makes the novel more interesting to read because each chapter is a different piece to the puzzle, and by the end they all fit together to create a clear picture.

Blog Post 27: Yunior Junot

Chapter 4 is told from the perspective of Yunior Juno, an arrogant player who goes to school with Oscar and rooms with him in order to get in good graces with Lola. For most of this section, I personally hated Yunior. Everything he did was for himself. He may have roomed with Oscar in order to show his care for Lola, but really he had no other option because he "must've pulled the lowest number on the lottery so it was that or living on the streets or at home" (170). His care for Lola isn't even genuine because even while pursuing he was still getting lots of "pussy" and cheating on several girls at once on a consistent basis. Some would say he obnoxious fuckboy attitude is due to the gender roles imposed on him by a typical Dominican upbringing, but in my opinion there is no excuse for his complete lack of morals and objectification of women. His most compassionate act-- the Oscar Redemption Project-- is even with selfish intention at its roots. He only did it because he was bored, and when Oscar quit and then put himself on his own plan for Jenny later on, he was not happy for him, which shows he did not have Oscar's best interest at heart. Yunior is a self-serving arrogant player who only cares about getting laid and keeping up his cool reputation.

Although an unlikable character, I still found myself as a reader rooting for him to get with Lola. I did not want for her to simply be a part of his collection of hoes, but rather a woman who could open his eyes and change the way he treated women and love. Towards the end of the chapter Yunior starts to have a change of heart. He even tries to take what he's learned from Oscar in being more of a romantic person rather than chasing after sex. When asking out Lola he says he "made like an Oscar and said, Have dinner with me, Lola, I promise, I won't try to take your panties off" (198). Later on he even moves back in with Oscar even though he had the option to stay in his single in one of the best buildings on campus. I still don't think he can change entirely, but there is a light of hope.

It is interesting to hear about Oscar from Yunior's perspective because Yunior is another Dominican male of the same generation. He and Oscar are almost polar opposites-- Yunior is the perfect Dominican male while Oscar can never measure up to the standard ideal Dominican male. Yunior is suave, arrogant, and good with the ladies, while Oscar is a nerdy, unpopular, freak who can't talk to a girl to save his life. These contrasting personalities emphasize their differences but also show that they each can learn from the other.

Blog Post 26: The GREAT Diaz

The following pictures are of emails I sent to Junot Diaz on February 13th and March 14th:

Blog Post 25: Clap the Red Heels, Maybe Trujillo GOES HOME

The inclusion of Trujillo makes for a much more cautious atmosphere because most of the society feels oppressed. This changes the tone by adding intimidation. Anytime Trujillo is mentioned, the reader becomes weary of what may happen because he is so powerful and ruthless. In this section of the book especially, it seems like everyone in some way is connected to Trujillo. He affects the lives of all, and divides the country into two sides-- Trujillo's and those who are oppressed by him. No matter which side one falls on they must live in fear. At one point, Beli tells the Gangster she wants to be like him because he is "free" (134). Those who are on Trujillo's side are not confined by finances because they have all the money they could ever need and more, and they are not restricted by any racism or other bias imposed on society by Trujillo's reign. This gives everyone else the impression that everyone who is in with Trujillo is "free." They do not have to hide from the police as Arquimedes does, they do Trujillo's reign no one is really free. Those on Trujillo's side may have high standing in society, but every day they have to live with the guilt of all the crimes they have committed. Even the Gangster, someone who appears to have everything he could ever want, cries himself to sleep most nights because he is" tormented by his crimes" (125). His love life is also restricted, as he has to leave Beli frequently and his own marriages with Trujillo's wife was created as protection of his safety and financial standing. The addition of Trujillo into the story means everyone is enslaved, whether on his side or not.

As we learn more about Beli's past, we learn more about why she treats Lola so harshly. First off, Lola is a constant reminder of the Gangster, a man who traded in love for money under the reign of Trujillo. For Beli, Lola is a lesson that love does not exist and does not work out. Beli thought that having a child would trap the Gangster with her and be a gateway into a perfect domestic life in Miami. While we do not know quite yet how her story with the Gangster ends, we do know it does not work out the way Beli always envisioned. Lola is also a disappointment to Beli because she wanted a son because that is what the Gangster wanted. If Lola were a son, she would be able to fulfill the Gangster's wishes and, ironically, make him into a doctor just like La Inca wanted to do with her. In these ways, Lola will always be a constant disappointment to Belie and a reminder of her failures.

Blogpost 24: Free as the Caribbean Wind

This section of the text takes the reader back in time to explore Beli's upbringing and teenage years back in the Dominican Republic. For me, what I found most interesting about this section is how her childhood experiences shape the way she behaves as a parent to Oscar and Lola.

In her earliest years, Beli struggled as an orphan in a harsh foster home. The text does not reveal a whole lot about these years of her life yet, but it implies that it was an extremely rough time for Beli. The absence of a stable parent in her earliest years could explain why she struggles as parent.

However, once out of foster care, most would say Beli was treated very well by La Inca. Interestingly, La Inca was strongly against beating Beli (79), yet Beli beats her children frequently as a parent. Beli treats her children very differently from the way she was treated as a child because she did not respect her relationship with La Inca. She distanced herself more and more from La Inca as she grew up because she wanted to create her own path, which could explain why her parenting style is much different.

Although different, there are many similarities between the mother-daughter dynamics between La Inca and Beli and Beli and Lola. Beli and Lola both grow up having the same burning desire: to escape (57, 80). Yet, both of their mother figures are the main things holding them back from their achieving their one wish. They also both make references to feeling like a slave: Lola says "What it's like to be the perfect Dominican daughter, which is just a nice way of saying a perfect Dominican slave" (56) and Beli refers to herself as a "pagina en blanco," or "blank slave" (78). Both Beli and Lola experience transformations when they decide to stop being perfect Dominican daughters and start acting as the rebellious and strong women they imagine themselves to be. They also both even have fights with their mothers over their hair (59, 80). Hair is often seen to be a symbol of womanhood because it is a key feature of a woman's appearance, and these arguments may symbolize a disagreement between mother and daughter over the way a woman should look and behave to fulfill their role in society.

Beli shares similarities not only with Lola, but with Oscar too. Before hitting puberty, Beli was an outsider at school and had trouble making friends and meeting guys. "She wasn't even lucky enough to be demoted into that lamentable sunset-- those mega-losers that even the losers pick on. She was beyond that, in Sycorax territory" (85). Oscar too struggles with hopeless romanticism and feeling like an outsider. Beli hated being treated that way at school and does not want the same for Oscar, which could explain why she is so hard on him for liking comic books and other things that would label him as "uncool."

I chose this picture to represent Beli because she felt trapped while she was living under the rules of La Inca. She desperately wanted to create her own path but felt powerless--she was just a little girl living under Trujillo's reign afterall. However, once she hit puberty and her breast size grew dramatically, she found she could use her body for power. Even though she did not want to be objectified, she liked it because she felt she finally had some control over her life and over those around her, so she could finally break free and stop feeling like she was living at "bottom of the ocean."

Blogpost 23: Feisty Mama

While Lola's upbringing was within the same household as Oscar's and they experience similar issues, Lola represents a different perspective and handles her struggles in contrasting ways from Oscar. I admire Lola as a girl who stands up for herself and rebels against the gender and cultural norms that are forced upon her. She is headstrong and often retaliates to issues with her mother in ways that are not always the best, but I respect her for standing up for herself instead of behaving like her brother, who often complains about his problems without taking much initiative to fix them. 

Junot Diaz's decision to switch the narrator perspective gives the reader a glimpse of what it is like to experience traditional gender role issues from the female perspective. A main issue in this novel is the gender roles of traditional Dominican society, and Oscar represents a male who struggles with masculinity through self pity, and Lola represents a female who wrestles with feminine norms through defiance. It is interesting to see the other half of this major topic and how different characters react to conflict.

The mom of Oscar and Lola, Belicia is a multidimensional character. Through her often toxic relationship with Lola, a main issue that comes to focus is the expression of love and what actual love looks like. Often times Lola feels unloved by her mother, and like she is being "crushed under her heel" (Diaz 55). On page 70, when Lola runs away but turns back for her crying mother, she finds out her mother was only faking it to be able to reclaim her daughter. This scene makes the reader question whether Lola's mom really loves her or if she just wants to treat her as a possession and slave that she has full control over. However, later on Belicia says to Lola on the phone, "Just know I would die for you" (Diaz 72). Belicia's willingness to sacrifice her life for Lola is the ultimate act of motherly love, which presents another conflicting side of Belicia. 

When it comes down to it, despite the volatile dynamic between them, Lola and her mother do love each other. It is society's cultural norms that cause them to express themselves in conflicting ways. As a Dominican woman, Belicia has probably had very little control over anything in her life, but having a daughter gave her the opportunity to be able to claim something as entirely hers, especially because she raised her children as a single mom. Because of this, Belicia's tyranny over Lola can be somewhat justified, because her behavior as a mom is just a result of society.

Personally, I can relate to Lola's relationship with her mother because my mom and I used to fight frequently and there is still often tension between us. We love each other, but our different ways of expressing it often lead to conflict. In the end, my mother wants what is best for me, but she does not always handle situations the way I would want to handle them. If I go about achieving my goals in a different way from how she would do it, she often worries and then expels that stress onto me. A similar dynamic is seen between Lola and her mom: they both want the same end result (for Lola to be happy), but they want to go about achieving this goal differently. Belicia wants Lola to conform to society and be like her, but Lola wants to make her own path.

Blogpost 22: Oscar Meyer... Wao?

Junot Diaz often uses footnotes throughout the text as an opportunity to tell backstories about Oscar's life and Dominican culture. Unlike most authors, Diaz's footnotes have just as much, if not more character than the regular text, because they are just as vital to the story as the text itself. These footnotes enhance the story by bringing the reader closer to the author because they are Junot's chance to speak directly to his audience. They also enhance the story primarily through their ability to provide background about Dominican culture and history- key influences on the behavior and gender roles of the society in which Oscar lives.

The reader has a love/hate relationship with the protagonist, Oscar. On one hand he is an endearing young boy who struggles with his abilities to fit into a society with traditional gender roles. Knowing Oscar's struggles and his unfulfilled desire for affection, the reader feels sympathy for him. On the other hand, Oscar has skewed values and judges people in ways that are far from admirable. He places too much importance on his ability to have a relationship, he objectifies women, and he values attractiveness over intelligence regarding his own self worth and the worth he places on girls. His consideration of his own depression and his complete disregard of Olga's following the breakup that ended his "Golden Age" is just one example of the double standards he has for the way people of different genders should behave. However, the way he judges people is only a result of his upbringing. From an early age, he was taught that the ideal man is strong, dominant, non-emotional, and sexually versed and the ideal woman is submissive, beautiful, and only useful for staying home to take care of the family. So on one hand, the reader wants "fuku" to teach the sexist, materialistic, and shallow Oscar a lesson, but on the other hand, the reader just wants Oscar to be able to rise above the norms of Dominican culture so he can express himself and be loved, no matter how he compares to the cookie cutter ideal male.