A Stylistic Analysis of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Daz

About the Author

Junot Daz is the author of Drown (1996), a collection of short stories, and of the novel The Brief
Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007). Daz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on
December 31, 1968. He has two brothers and two sisters. Growing up, Daz and his siblings lived
in Santo Domingo with their mother while Dazs father went to the United States to work. His
father sent for his family when Daz was seven. Their family lived in a poor part of New Jersey
populated primarily by Dominicans.

Daz reports that his grades in high school were awful. He did however spend a lot of time
reading everything he could find in the library. He also wrote a Stephen King-esque novel that
he says was garbage. Daz worked various jobs before becoming a writer, including working at
a steel mill and delivering pool tables.

Daz attended Rutgers University and received his Bachelors degree in History and Literature.
While at Rutgers, Daz lived in Demarest, the dorm where Oscar and Yunior live in the novel.
After going to Rutgers, Daz pursued a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Cornell. It was
there that he began to write the short stories that eventually formed his first published
collection called Drown (1996). Yunior, a young Dominican immigrant who will later narrate
Dazs first novel, narrates the stories in the collection.

Drown (1996) received critical acclaim from many sources, and soon Daz was more popular in
the literary world than he ever imagined he would be. The book was also translated into
Spanish and published under the title Negocios (1997). Daz had a two-book deal and a six-
figure advance, and life looked great. However, after his success, Daz found it difficult to write.
In fact, it was another eleven years before Daz was able to complete another work of creative
fiction. His second book, published in 2007, is a novel called The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar
Wao. It is the story of a ghetto nerd and the curse that has plagued his family for generations.
The novel received as much, or more, critical acclaim than Drown and won numerous awards.
Daz is known for his spare narrative style, and his seamless integration of Spanish into his
English text. Both Drown and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao explore the violence
history of the Dominican Republic, and the violence that occurs on an everyday basis in the lives
of the characters.
In the wake of the novel, Daz has been the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including
a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize. Daz is a professor of Creative Writing at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lives in Boston.

Plot

This novel opens with an introductory section which explains the fuk -- "generally a curse or a
doom of some kind; specifically the Curse and the Doom of the New World," and the zafaa
counterspell to the fuk. The narrator of the book, unknown to the reader at this point,
explains that the story he is about to tell is his own form of a zafa.

Part I
Part I of the book contains an introductory section, as well as the first four chapters of the
story, and runs for over half the novel's length.

Chapter One: Ghetto Nerd at the End of the World (1974-1987)

This chapter introduces the reader to the titular character Oscar de Len. Oscar comes from a
Dominican family, and is therefore expected to be successful with girls. However, Oscar is more
successful with science fiction, cartoons, reading, and role-playing games.
This chapter explains Oscar's history as a child through high school, focusing on his inability to
find love.

When he was seven, Oscar had a week-long relationship with two girls at the same time,
Maritza Chacn and Olga Polanco. When Maritza gives Oscar an ultimatum, he breaks up with
Olga, only to be quickly dumped by Maritza. The narrator mentions that this event will cause all
three of them to be unlucky in love.

In high school, Oscar is an outcast. He is very overweight and his fascination with "the Genres"
causes him to be teased. When his two friends Al and Miggs both find girlfriends and do not
involve Oscar (or try to help Oscar find a girlfriend), Oscar quickly stops spending time with
them.

During his senior year of high school, Oscar takes an SAT review course. There, he meets and
shortly begins to spend a lot of time with a girl named Ana Obregn. Oscar shortly falls in love
with Ana. When her ex-boyfriend Manny returns from the Army, Ana stops spending time with
Oscar. It is around this time that Oscar begins to start writing heavily, science fiction or fantasy
stories, mostly centered around the end of the world.
When Oscar discovers that Manny has been physically abusing Ana, Oscar takes his uncle's gun
and stands outside of Manny's apartment, but Manny never returns that night.

The chapter ends with Oscar revealing his love to Ana, Ana rejecting him, and Oscar going away
to college at Rutgers.

Chapter Two: Wildwood (1982-1985)

The narrative changes to the first person, from the perspective of Lola, Oscar's sister. It explores
the distant and often verbally abusive relationship that Lola has with her Old World Dominican
mother, and Lola's resulting rebellion.

It opens with Lola telling, in the second person (after a few pages changing to first person), the
story of how she found out her mother had breast cancer. It then proceeds to explore the
negative relationship that Lola had with her mother. This poor relationship causes Lola to run
away from home to live with her boyfriend and his father on the Jersey Shore. After a bit of
time, Lola finds herself again unhappy and calls home. She talks with Oscar and convinces him
to bring money and meet Lola at a coffee shop. When they meet up, Lola discovers that Oscar
told their mother about the meeting.

In an effort to run away from the coffee shop and from her mother, Lola accidentally knocks her
cancer-ridden mother over. When Lola turns around to make sure her mother is okay, her
mother grabs Lola by the hand, revealing that she was faking crying in an effort to get Lola to
come back.

As a result of her running away, Lola is sent to live with her grandmother, La Inca, in the
Dominican Republic.

Chapter Three: The Three Heartbreaks of Belicia Cabral (1955-1962)

This chapter introduces the reader to the history of Oscar and Lola's mother, whose full name is
revealed to be Hypata Belicia Cabral, though she is usually referred to simply as Beli.

It is revealed that Beli's family died when she was one, with rumors that Trujillo was
responsible. She was raised by a series of abusive foster families until her father's cousin, La
Inca, rescues her from such a life. La Inca continually tells Beli that her father was a doctor, and
that her mother was a nurse as a way to remind Beli of her heritage. La Inca brings Beli back to
her hometown of Ban, where La Inca runs a bakery
At the age of 13, Beli lands a scholarship at El Redentor, one of the best schools in Ban. There,
she falls in love with a light-skinned boy named Jack Pujols, and spends a lot of her time trying
to earn his affection, to no avail. Because she is poor and dark-skinned, Beli is often made fun
of, and is a social outcast. However, during the summer of sophomore year, Beli quickly
develops into a full grown and well endowed woman, and the book describes how Beli becomes
very popular with men of all ages.

With her new body, Beli is finally able to catch the attention of Jack Pujols and loses her
virginity to him. However, when they are discovered in a closet together, Beli is kicked out of
school. Instead of transferring to a different school, however, she earns a job at a restaurant
run by two Chinese immigrants brothers, Juan and Jos, where she works as a waitress.

After a time, Beli goes to a club with another waitress named Constantina. There, she meets a
gangster, and the two of them form a relationship. After a while, Beli is fired from her job.
Although the Gangster's authority quickly gets her her job back, she feels it is not the same and
resigns. Eventually, Beli becomes pregnant with the Gangster's child. It is then revealed that the
gangster is in fact married to one of Trujillo's sisters, "known affectionately as La Fea" (The
Ugly). When La Fea discovers that Beli is pregnant with her husband's child, she has two large
cops resembling Elvis, with pompadour hairstyles, kidnap Beli, with plans to take her to have a
forced abortion. As she is being led to the car, she sees a third cop who does not have a face.
Before the cops can drive away, Beli spots her former employers, Juan and Jos, as well as her
former coworkers and calls for help. They come to her rescue and Beli manages to get back to
her old home. However, she is tricked into thinking the Gangster is outside in his car, and runs
out to meet him, only to run into the same cops from before. The two cops physically beat Beli
and leave her close to death, and continue to do so in the cane field. Her fetus dies due to the
injuries.

When she discovers that Beli has been taken, La Inca begins to pray very intensely, and in short
order, a small but intense prayer group forms around La Inca.

Back in the cane field, after she has been left for dead, a mongoose with golden eyes appears
and leads Beli out of the cane, telling her that she will have two children. As Beli returns to the
road, she is picked up by a group of traveling musicians. Thanks to La Inca's connections in the
medical community, Beli is nursed back to health.

After Beli returns to La Inca's care, it quickly becomes apparent that Beli will not be safe in the
Dominican Republic under Trujillo, and so she is sent to live in New York.
Chapter Four: Sentimental Education (1988-1992)
This chapter explores Oscar's time at Rutgers, and introduces the narrator, Yunior, who was
Oscar's roommate and Lola's boyfriend.

Part II
Part II of the book contains an introductory section, as well as chapters Five and Six of the story.

Chapter Five: Poor Abelard (1944-1946)

This chapter is the story of Abelard, Belicia's father (Oscar and Lola's grandfather), and the "Bad
Thing he said about Trujillo," which causes his family to be torn apart leaving most family
members dead. The dictator, Trujillo, known for his sexual desire for young girls, whose families
cannot protect them, learns that Abelard's oldest daughter, Jaquelyn, has become a beautiful
young teenager. As a father Abelard does not want to give his daughter to Trujillo, as so many
other fathers had been forced to do, and does not bring her to the event it had been demanded
she come to. Some four weeks later Abelard is arrested for supposedly making a joke that there
were no bodies in the trunk of his car. As Trujillo's henchmen disposed of opponents this way
he was accused of slandering the dictator. After his arrest and torture his wife learns she is
pregnant with what turns out to be her third daughter, Belicia. Two months after the baby's
birth she is killed by an army truck in a probable suicide. Her two older daughters die under
suspicious circumstance and the baby is taken to be a criada, a child slave. Mistreated and
bearing the scars of the hot oil thrown on her back she is rescued at the age of nine by her
father's cousin, La Inca, whom she comes to regard as her mother.

Chapter Six: Land of the Lost (1992-1995)

This chapter is about the post-college life of Oscar, and the time he spends in the Dominican
Republic. He falls in love with an older prostitute named Ybn Pimentel. This results in Oscar
being severely beaten, reflecting the same situation of his mother. The golden mongoose,
which saved his mother's life, returns to save Oscar's life. Oscar returns to the United States.

Part III
Part III of the book contains chapters Seven and Eight, an unnamed section, and the novel's
epilogue, "The Final Letter." Part III contains an introductory section where Oscar visits and lies
to Yunior about his plans for the future. They also discuss Yunior's relationship with Lola.

Chapter Seven: The Final Voyage

Oscar returns to the Dominican Republic to write and to attempt to be with Ybn. His attempts
take place over twenty-seven days in which he writes numerous letters to Ybn and shakes off
any attempts from family or friends, including Lola, Yunior, La Inca, and Clives, to forget Ybn.
Ybn herself resists Oscar for fear of the Capitan, but Oscar is persistent and waves off his
family's fears as misunderstanding of their love.

Oscar is captured by the Capitan's friends, whom Yunior calls Gorilla Grod and Solomon Grundy,
and they drive Oscar (and Clives) again to the cane field. Oscar reiterates the power of love and
indicates that death would turn him into a "hero, an avenger. Because anything you can
dream... you can be.[7] " They then shoot Oscar, but his speech suggests that he is fulfilling his
lifelong dream of becoming something worth writing about. The chapter ends with the word
"Oscar" interrupted by a dash. It is unclear if this is interrupted narration for Yunior or a direct
address to Oscar.

Chapter Eight: The End of the Story

The narrator reveals the eventual fates of the characters. Beli's cancer returns one year after
Oscar's death, killing her ten months later. Yunior speculates that she had given up. La Inca
moves back to Bani. Lola breaks up with Yunior, asserting herself after having had enough of his
cheating. She soon after meets someone in Miami, marries him, and has a baby girl, named Isis.
Yunior has dreams of Oscar for ten years while his life deteriorates, until he hits rock bottom,
and follows Oscar's request presumably to write this novel. At the time of the novel, Yunior is
married in New Jersey (almost faithfully) and teaches composition at Community College. He
and Lola still run into each other occasionally. Although he still thinks about her and how he
might have saved their relationship, they only ever talk about Oscar.

The Final Letter

This serves as an epilogue to the novel wherein Yunior describes letters he and Lola received
from Oscar before he died. Lola was told to expect Oscars novel in the mail, which never
arrives. Yunior, on the other hand, finds out that Oscar and Ybn did consummate their
relationship.

Analysis

Of what import are brief, nameless lives...to Galactus?

Junot Diaz chooses to use the above quotation from Stan Lees Fantastic Four comic before he
begins his novel, The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Before interpreting the reason
why Diaz might have chosen the quotation let us try to understand the quotations context.
Galactus, the world devourer, sends his herald, the Silver Surfer, to scour the depths of the
cosmos for planets on which Galactus might sate his mighty appetite. The Surfer arrives at a
distant blue planet, Earth. Upon his arrival the Surfer informs the people of Earth that
resistance is futile and that they should be honored to serve Galactus with their deaths. The
Fantastic Four, the super family of the Marvel Universe, refuses to allow Surfers
announcement to daunt them. For they know that their lives and the lives of all people on Earth
matter enough to stand against the devourer of worlds, possibly the most powerful, amoral
being in the entire universe. In much the same way, Oscar, the protagonist of Diazs novel,
chooses to take a stand for his own little world against a force far greater than himself.

Ferdinand de Saussures semiotics, states that the signifier is the form of the word or phrase
uttered, to the signified as the mental concept. It is important to note that, according to
Saussure, the sign is completely arbitrary, i.e. there was no necessary connection between the
sign and its meaning. The epigraph above is directed towards the reader and aims to provoke
the stimuli of our schema to produce certain emotions like the power of will.

Diaz blends many dialects of English, Spanish and Dominicans language (Code Switching) to tell
Oscars story in a way that entices and opens the realm of his imagination to a very diverse
readership

Excerpt from The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Close Reading Key

They walked him into the cane and then turned him around.He tried to stand bravely.
(Clives they left tied up in the caband while they had their backs turned he slipped into
thecane, and he would be the one who would deliver Oscar to the family.) They looked at
Oscar and he looked at them and then he started to speak. The words coming out
like theybelonged to someone else, his Spanish good for once. Hetold them that
what they were doing was wrong, that theywere going to take a great love out of the world.

Love was a rare thing, easily confused with a million other things, and if anybody
knew this to be true it was him. He told them about Ybnand the way he loved her and how
much they had risked andthat theyd started to dream the same dreams and say the same
words. He told them that it was only because of herlove that hed been
able to do the thing that he had done, the thing they could no longer stop,
told them if they killed him they would probably feel nothing and their children would probably
feel nothing either, not until they were old and weak or about to be struck by a
car and then they would sense him waiting on the other side and over there he wouldnt be
no fatboy ordork or kid no girl had ever loved; over there hed be a hero, an avenger.
Because anything you can dream (he put his hand up) you can be.
They waited respectfully for him to finish and then they said,their faces slowly disappearing in
the gloom, Listen, well letyou go if you tell us what fuego means in English.

Fire, he blurted out, unable to help himself.

Oscar

How can we redefine our conceptions about genre?

How can genre help us identify themes and author intention?

Genre is normally defined in the classroom as a category under which one can file a book. There
is no question that, in the classical sense of the word, the Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar
Wao is a coming-of-age novel (as dictated by both Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble).
However, another, more interesting, way to think about genres is as types of texts that tend to
occur in or are associated with specific contexts or social occasions and serve identifiable
purposes within those contexts. In other words, in a stylistic analysis, we as scholars and
students need to approach genre more from the angles of theme and author intention. This
approach to genre provides a bridge into how they may address these often large and
unfamiliar notions of theme and author purpose. For example, in thinking about the story of
Oscar Wao as a whole, we might determine that Diaz can fit into several genres. The novel
might be seen as a social commentary on Dominican culture or even a political satire of the
Trujillo regime.

Solely examining the excerpt one might interpret the genre to be a narrative commentary on
the battle between good and evil. Lines 10 through 14 reveal this notion when the speaker says,
[Oscar] told them if they killed him they would probably feel nothing and their children would
probably feel nothing either, not until they were old and weak or about to be struck by a car
and then they would sense him waiting on the other side and over therehed be a hero, an
avenger. The antagonists in the passage are portrayed through negative actions such as they
killed him and struck by a car, and also by negative notions such as the idea that they and
their children will feel nothing. Though the antagonists have the upper hand, due to their evil
ways they and their children will be cursed. Meanwhile the protagonist, though about to be
wiped out, is portrayed through positive images such as waiting on the other side, hero,
and avenger. The protagonist, though physically helpless at the moment, has a brighter
future awaiting him in his next life. Good, ultimately, triumphs over evil though evil may seem
to be the more powerful of the two.
How can we identify the type of narrator in a text?
How is the way a narrator presents important information essential to the readers
understanding of a text?

Once a reader has established the purpose of a piece in their mind, they must examine the
voice that is used to present the piece. Junots choice for narrator is Yunior, one of the
characters in the novel, which seamlessly moves between a 1st person point of view and the
3rd person limited point of view. This is not immediately discernible in the passage because it
lacks any 1st person references to Yunior. However, the passage does provide an opportunity
to explore how the third person limited point of view allows the reader to make a deeper
connection to the passage through the plight of the main character. This type of connection can
be extracted from the text at the very beginning of the passage when the narrator says, They
walked him into the cane and then turned him around. He tried to stand bravely. Oscars plight
is immediate. They have control of his actions because they walked him and turned him
around. Oscar is powerless and this powerlessness is portrayed to the reader in a
straightforward fashion in that Oscar tried to stand bravely. The narrators use of the verb
tried takes away both Oscars physical ability to stand and any sense of bravery that might
have accompanied his action. There are no thoughts, only actions, and the 3rd person limited
narration gives an unblinking, straightforward quality to the narrative. The fact that these
actions are removed from the 1st person allows the reader to attain a broader awareness of
the implications of the cane field as killing field and Oscars powerlessness in his inability to act.

In line with this, Genettes theories of diegesis supports that main point is that the use of
stylistic signals such as first-or third-person narration can offer a superficial clue to the relation
between narrator and narrative there are other more significant structural and stylistic features
that can unsettle these. He argues that every kind of narrator is to some degree intradiegetic,
that is to say involved in the story; the opinions, the knowledge and the style of the narrator
will always have some effect upon the various elements of the narrative, no matter how much
the narrator might attempt to achieve objectivity and impartialit

How can we identify the difference between direct and indirect speech?
How do the ways that a text presents speech and thought influence how a reader might
interpret the deeper ideas of a text?

There are two types of speech in a piece of writing, direct and indirect. Direct speech is quoted
verbatim, with quotation marks and indirect speech is reported secondhand, with no
quotation marks. Writers often use direct speech as a way of depicting conversations as they
occur in real-time and also as a means to characterization through giving characters unique
speech patterns. Indirect speech is often used as a way to get across the gist of a conversation
without displaying the actual conversation. Indirect speech can also be used to convey an
experience from a broader perspective. Both forms of speech can be used to convey the
stylistic effects of speech and control the tempo of a piece. The passage clearly demonstrates
that Diaz blurs the line between the two in that he uses indirect speech that sounds like direct
speech and direct speech without quotation marks. In fact, when it comes to direct speech Diaz
kicks quotation marks to the curb for the entire novel, thus the reader is able to determine that
Diazs lack of quotations is definitely a stylistic choice. Another observation is that the narrator
prefers indirect speech, as evidenced by the lack of direct speech in the passage, which
broadens the scope of the narrative and speeds the pace of the story to be more in line with an
oral story, rather than a written text.

Lines 7 9 effectively demonstrate this oral mode of indirect speech: He told them that what
they were doing was wrong, that they were going to take a great love out of the world. For the
most part, the speech in the narrative is demonstrated through third person pronouns coupled
with the past tense verb told. The indirect speech patterns of the narrator create a narrative
that is heard, rather than seen on the page. This style of speech combines with the effect of the
3rd person limited narrator to provide an experience that is like an oral retelling of an
important event. The rarity with which Diaz uses direct speech in the passage demonstrates
how the narrator stylistically slows down his narrative for particularly jarring moments. An
example of Diazs stylistic form of direct speech is demonstrated in line 18 when Oscar blurts
out, Fire. The lack of quotations allows the narrative to flow more naturally and thus continue
the effect of the indirect oral narrative. The result, however, slows down the narrative just
enough to build suspense and make the reader ruminate on Oscars pathetic existence for a
little bit longer.

How can we identify the components of a narrative?

How do different methods of textual cohesion represent various meanings in a text?

Both the abstract and the orientation of the passage occur in line one when the text says, They
walked him into the cane and then turned him around. Line one gives an overview of the
situation and orients the reader with who and where the players are. The complicating action
of the piece occurs in lines five and six when the text says, They looked at Oscar and he looked
at them and then he started to speak. Oscar is too weak to perform any action other than
speaking in the passage. He cannot walk, turn, or stand by himself, but he can speak. By
performing an action of his own accord Oscar takes control of his destiny and the situation
changes. An example of evaluation in the passage occurs in lines 13-14 when the text says,
Because anything you can dream (he put his hand up) you can be. The lines end Oscars
indirect monologue and give his speaking a moral. It seems at this point that the narrator is
using Oscars final moment to reveal an important truth to the reader. The fact that (he put his
hand up) in the only parenthetical in the passage can lead the reader to make an inference that
this particular sentence can be taken in its own special context. The resolution of the story
occurs in lines 15-18. The men promise to let Oscar go, but instead trick him into telling them
to fire. The fatal trick ends Oscars life and the events of the passage swiftly. Whats
interesting is that the coda of the passage can be interpreted as either lines 13-14, due to the
lesson it seeks to teach, or line 19, which simply reads Oscar . The em dash is traditionally
used to indicate the presence of a parenthetical thought, however there is no final thought on
Oscar because he has died. Perhaps the em dash indicates that Oscar exists even after he leaves
the world of the written page. Though his story falls into the void of the blank page, it has been
engrained on the readers mind and thus serves as a lesson in bravery. Reexamining the
components of a narrative through the lens of stylistic discourse can lead students to more
complex interpretations through a close examination of how the author utilizes different
sections of a narrative.

How can word choice influence a readers experience with a text?

How can analyses of word choice lead to critical inquiry?

In a phrase, word choice, or diction, is everything. Words, words, words fill the reader with
imagination, emotions, notions, and just about any other ion we can think of. Without words
there is no text to read and without the diverse lexicon of the English language there can be no
style. Without word choice, how would one writer be able to differentiate him or herself from
another writer? How would an author convey meaning? Because diction is such a large
category Ive chosen to narrow the scope of diction to the realm of lexical cohesion. Lexical
cohesion ties the parts of a text together, both in the realm of ideas and style. Lexical cohesion
includes the Repetition of words across sentences and the Use of synonyms to create
semantic connections. The use of repetition and synonyms can both help a reader determine
important ideas in a passage and make interpretations as to why an author chose to repeat
certain words while changing others.

For example the passage repeats variations of the word love seven times. Oscar talks about
his love of Ybn and her love of him. The repetition of the word asserts that love is an
important idea in the passage and helps the reader draw an inference that love is the thing that
Oscar is willing to die for. This observation allows the reader to understand how important and
powerful love is in the realm of the text, which in turn adds significance to Oscars death. A
connection can also be made to the Bible. Much like Jesus, Oscar is willing to die for love, which
gives Oscar the status of martyr. Oscars death is not in vain. Moreover, Perry invokes that the
procedures of stylistics as a means of stabilizing the relation between what happens in a text
and perceived reality matters in the text used.

How can we identify complex metaphors?

How can we break down complex metaphors for simpler understanding of higher-level ideas?

An example of how every-day language use can be linked to metaphor comes from the saddest
metaphor in the passage, which has to do with the slight play on the word fire in lines 17 and
18 of the passage. Grod and Grundy tell Oscar, Listen, well let you go if you tell us what fuego
means in English. Oscar blurts out Fire unable to help himself. Fuego literally means fire in
English, however, the Spanish word strictly adheres to the meaning of fire as a noun. In English
the word is clearly acceptable as a noun, as in a forest fire, or a verb, as in to discharge a
firearm. The Spanish equivalent for the verb fire is actually disparar. Grod and Grundy blatantly
misinterpret Oscars utterance of the noun fire and equate it with the English verb. This
mistranslation amounts to little more than a mean-spirited pun for the men. The metaphor at
work in the exchange is one that allows the reader to think of metaphor in terms of comparing
languages and not just ideas. The higher-level understanding that a reader takes away from the
passage is the implication in the passage that the men discharge their guns when Oscar says,
Fire, killing Oscar in the process. Oscars untimely demise requires the reader to make an
inference regarding the everyday use of English and Spanish. An even higher imaginative leap
can be made with the use of fire as a bilingual pun. Since the word infers Oscars death and is
used as a pun simultaneously, the critical student might be able to make the jump that Oscars
death is little more than a cruel joke. This imaginative bound heightens the feeling of contempt
the reader has towards the evil men and deepens the emotional tie the reader has with the
suffering protagonist.

Conclusion

Dont judge the book by its cover, but with the theory of semiotics, the cover itself entails some
connotations about whats might be in the novel. The color yellow in its cover signifies wisdom
while the boy looking upward means a curiosity. Thus the book tells us to be curious about
wisdom. This relates itself to the main protagonist of the story, Oscar who is nerdy yet a drop
out in romance.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
http://www.junotdiaz.com/
 In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements in

English 44

Stylistic Analysis

Submitted by:

John Rey Abellanida

Johnny Jean Tanguyoc

Submitted to:

Dr. Pamela Batiao