Oscar Wao Symbolism

In chapters six, seven, and eight of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao the death of Oscar is presented by author Junot Diaz as a turning point in the troubled history of the De Leon family. After finishing the book, I’ve become convinced that Oscar’s untimely death leaves hope that one day the De Leon family will break free of their fuku curse.

Oscar’s fate was decided by a fateful encounter with a mongoose on the night he was first brought to the sugarcane field by the police captain’s men. The conversation between the mongoose and Oscar gave the latter a newfound desire to live, to best the fuku curse for his sake and his family’s: “he remembered his family…. Remembered how he used to…. optimistic…. More, he croaked.”(pg.301) From then on, Oscar wanted to prove that a De Leon

He wrote out the word for me: fuku.”(pg.306) Moreover, Oscar understood that whatever course his life ended up taking would either feed into his family’s fuku curse or into his family’s zafa. This being the case, the life he’d lived up unto his first experience in the sugarcane field was headed for the annals of the fuku curse. As a result, Oscar opted to risk another beating or worse from the police captain and take charge of his life, in the belief that his future and that of his family’s were yet to be decided: “It took a while for Oscar’s eyes to focus, but then he saw that the book was blank.”(pg.303) For Oscar the “blank pages” meant a future that wasn’t shaped by his family’s past, a future without fukus. Unfortunately for Oscar, his life essentially started twenty-seven days before his death. During this time, however, Oscar achieved the one thing he wanted most, he finally found love, experiencing his first true romance with Ybon: “If only I’d known. The beauty! The beauty!”(pg.335) And in this sense, Oscar, awaited his death, knowing that he had lived a contented life. And although it's hard to believe, I hold fast to the idea that Oscar saw his life unfold