While reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, I could not help but note how much focus there is on appearance. Oscar is overweight with acne and crazy hair. His sister is attractive, and his mom was a bombshell in her youth.
I think the juxtaposition of Oscar and his mother’s social life based on each person’s appearance is very important. Oscar is ashamed of his body and thus his own body image issues directly affect his interactions with people. He’s shy and desperate for love. He’s busy fantasizing about rescuing one of the girls he admires in hope that one day, they will feel the same way. The first girl to give him attention, Ana, ends up getting back together with her abusive ex-boyfriend, while still turning to Oscar for comfort.
Oscar’s mother, Beli, was the opposite of Oscar. Though she too was somewhat of a social outcast, she was absolutely stunning with the type of body that attracts a lot of men. She too, let her own body image dictate how she interacts with people. Mostly, because she knew that men liked how she looked, she would use it to her advantage. Still, Beli ended up dating and being with men who didn’t treat her well. Her first “boyfriend” used her and as soon as she became a liability, sold her out. Her second partner was a gangster, and her last, the father of her children, left her.
I think the author focuses on Oscar and Beli’s appearances to show that, one way or another, life is hard regardless how you look. Oscar thinks that life would be so much better if he was attractive, but look what happened to his mother. She was beautiful, but her beauty also caused her pain. Being attractive can help you, yes. People are biologically inclined to like pretty people more. But ultimately, it’s personality and your own life choices that will determine your life. Beli could have used her attractiveness to find a good man who would treat her well, but she chose men that only wanted her for her attractiveness and treated her poorly.
