In class, we have been discussing the book The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Just like the title says, the books follows along the life of Dominican boy, Oscar Wao, an overweight boy with a severe case of acne and crazy hair. Unlike him, his sister is very attractive while her mother also had great looks in her youth.
For Oscar, he is constantly chasing love and can never seem to catch a break. Because of his self consciousness over his looks, he is socially awkward and the only girl that gives him attention ends up back with her abusive ex-boyfriend. He is treated poorly byhis classmates and friends because he is a nerd.
Just like Oscar in a way, his mother let her looks affect her life. She let her looks get to her head and she used her looks to her own advantage. Her first boyfriend sold her out as soon as she became a border, her second boyfriend was a gangster, and her last partner ditched her when she got children. She is overly trusting in men almost as if she is completely trusting in the Dominican stereotype of what a man should be.
However, Lola, Oscar’s sister, is completely different than Oscar and his mother. Lola uses her power as a woman to bend men to her desires which is shown in her relationship with Yunior in college. When Yunior mistreats her brother as a roommate, she stops talking to him for a while making him ask her out again later on. Compared to both Oscar and their mother, Lola almost seems as if she does not let stereotypes around one’s own body image define who she is and the types of experiences she has romantically.