Oscar's Wondrous Life

One of the questions I tried to answer while reading the book was how and why Oscar’s life was wondrous. I think it took me reading the entire novel to figure out the answer to the question. It’s not necessary for someone to be “wondrous” for his or her life to be wondrous. Oscar’s life was wondrous in an unorthodox way. He lived his life the way he wanted to live it. He didn’t do things other people told him he should do if he didn’t like it (like running with Yunior.) Oscar lived in a way everyone should. He was completely okay with who he was, maybe not completely happy with being overweight but he didn’t hate himself for it. He loved his science fiction obsessions and didn’t try to hide them from people just so that they would like him. He was very upfront with who he was and didn’t try to be someone he was not. During the last part of the book I think is the best representation of who Oscar was. I don’t believe he was acting in a stubborn matter, just doing something he believed he needed to do. He loved Ybón and tried to win her back the way he wanted to. He knew the captain would do something to him eventually but continued on.

            But I’m not really sure what Junot Diaz is trying to say by having Oscar die at the end. He lives his whole life being exactly who he wants to be, and is then killed by being exactly who he is. Maybe he’s saying that being yourself is good and that by being a genuinely good person is great, but the rest of the world is not like that and the good people’s world will get corrupted by the bad people. It’s a sad concept but it is true. The world is full of these bad people and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. It even applies to Trujillo. This was a man who was incredibly evil and there was nothing anyone in the Dominican Republic could do about it. There was no one they could turn to for help, they had to simply put up with it.