Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 17, 2023 June 10, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
full title The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
author Junot Díaz
type of work Novel
genre Domestic fiction; coming-of-age novel; magical realism
language English
time and place written New York and Massachusetts, 1996–2006
date of first publication September 6, 2007
publisher Riverhead Books
narrator The primary narrator is Yunior, and he speaks from his own perspective using the first-person pronoun “I.” Lola also narrates two short sections. Like Yunior, she usually uses the first-person pronoun “I” to speak from her own perspective.
point of view Yunior’s point of view dominates the novel. He positions himself as an outside observer, a “humble watcher,” who tells of a curse that appears to have followed the de León/Cabral family across three generations. Yunior bases his account of the family on evidence gathered from personal experience, witness testimony, and historical research. Although he has privileged insider knowledge, much of his account relies on speculation.
tone Dark and ironic. Yunior’s narrative speculates that a curse has followed the de León/Cabral family through multiple generations. During this period, the family has suffered tremendous pain and loss, the accumulation of which gives the novel a dark, tragic tone. Yet Yunior’s storytelling style also has an irreverent sense of humor that brings a hint of bitter irony to the novel’s darkness.
tense Past
setting (time) The novel covers three periods, each centering on one character: 1944–1946 (Abelard), 1955–1962 (Beli), and 1974–1995 (Oscar).
setting (place) New Jersey and the Dominican Republic
protagonist The main protagonist is Oscar. However, since the novel recounts the history of three generations of the de León/Cabral family, it could be argued that the family serves as a collective protagonist.
major conflict The novel’s major conflict plays out between Oscar and the world. As an overweight, brown-skinned, and nerdy boy, Oscar struggles to find a sense of love and belonging in a society that either ignores or outright rejects him. This struggle is compounded by his family’s traumatic history in the Dominican Republic and as members of the Dominican diaspora in the United States.
rising action Oscar passes through a series of obsessive crushes on girls who never reciprocate his interest. In college, when his crush on a fellow student goes awry, the experience leaves him depressed and suicidal. Meanwhile, Yunior recounts the life stories of Oscar’s mother, Beli, and grandfather, Abelard. He tells of how Beli escaped to New York after her relationship with a man attached to the Trujillo regime resulted in a near-fatal beating. He also tells of how the family curse began when Trujillo had Abelard arrested and tortured. Oscar visits the Dominican Republic and falls hopelessly in love with a middle-aged, semiretired prostitute named Ybón who already has a relationship with a violently jealous police officer.
climax After a beating, Oscar returns to the Dominican Republic to be with Ybón and is captured and murdered by her boyfriend’s thugs.
falling action Beli dies, and Yunior and Lola break up. Lola has a daughter with another man. Yunior collects and protects Oscar’s belongings and hopes that one day Lola’s daughter will break the curse on the family.
themes Magic and fantasy; sexuality; the escapism of storytelling
motifs Páginas en blanco (“blank pages”); blackness; historical and cultural references
symbols The fukú curse; the man without a face and the mongoose; the Fall
foreshadowing History repeats itself across the generations of the de León/Cabral family. As such, traumatic events that happen to one family member often foreshadow the revelations of other traumas that Yunior relates in later chapters. For example, Beli’s attack foreshadows Oscar’s, and it also foreshadows the story of Abelard’s “Fall”—even though Abelard’s story precedes Beli’s in chronological time. More examples of foreshadowing include Jack’s failed promise to marry Beli and buy her a house, which foreshadows the same promises made later by the Gangster. Beli calling Lola “fea” also foreshadows the revelation that she got brutally beaten because she was dating a man married to one of Trujillo’s sisters, nicknamed “La Fea.”
Please wait while we process your payment