Is Oscar a hero or a fool?

In the last class, we were discussing whether Oscar was a hero or a fool. Throughout the majority of the novel, Oscar is a fat, nerdy, depressed, friendless loser. He is unlike other Dominican men in nearly every way, but being unlike other Dominican men is not always negative. Oscar does not fit the stereotype of a Dominican man in that he is not athletic, attractive or popular, but he is also not violent and treats women with respect. Oscar’s refusal—or inability, which one it is does not really matter—to treat others the way that typical Dominican men treat others shows the characters around him that not everyone is the same and that there is more to life than being “manly,” and this is what makes him a hero.

When Oscar is hanging out with Jenni, taking her out to dinner, and talking to her, rather than sleeping with her and then leaving like other Dominican men in the novel, Yunior questions his own relationships. He says, “I should have been happy for the Wao. I mean, honestly, who was I to begrudge Oscar a little action? Me who was fucking with not one, not two, but three fine-ass bitches…But of course I begrudged the motherfucker. A heart like mine, which never got any kind of affection growing up, is terrible above all things” (185). Yunior’s relationships usually consist of sleeping with multiple girls, and nothing else. When he looks at Oscar and Jenni’s relationship, and how happy he was, “like I’d never seen him, love the transformer,” Yunior wonders if there is more to gain from relationships besides sex (185). He sees how there is affection in Oscar and Jenni’s relationship and wants some affection for himself. Oscar’s being different from other Dominican men makes Yunior question Dominican masculinity.

In addition to showing Yunior that Dominican masculinity is not always the best, he also shows him that not all girls fall for the typical Dominican guys.  Again talking about Oscar and Jenni’s relationship, Yunior says, “In my universe, when a dork like Oscar pushes up on a girl like Jenni, he usually gets bounced faster than your tia Daisy’s rent checks, but Jenni must have had brain damage or been really into fat loser nerdboys, because by the end of February she was actually treating him all civil and shit” (183). By getting a girl to like him without being like other Dominican men, Oscar teaches Yunior that not all girls are looking for the typical Dominican man.

Teaching the people around him that Dominican masculinity is not everything they thought it was is what makes Oscar a hero. He may have been a fat, nerdy, loser, but he managed to make people question what they knew about being Dominican, which made his brief life have meaning.