Three Books, Three Relations ♻

Race/Ethnicty Race

Oscar Wao, conflict because of his dark skin tone and not fitting in as a "typical" Dominican.

Tayo being mixed with white, not being considered a full Native American.

Rio Gonzaga being mixed as a Filipino girl.

Darkness darnkess

"The kids of color, upon hearing him speak and seeing him move his body, shook their heads. You’re not Dominican" (DIaz, 49)

"But she would nor let Tayo go outside or play in another room alone. She wanted him close enough to feel excluded, to be aware of the distance between them" (Silko, 62)

  • Amongst the three books you find similarities in the main character's struggle with identity.
  • They cannot seem to feel like they fit into one specific group.
  • Their families sort of feel obligated to have the main character fit in.

Oscar Wao, his life is full of fukú, he considers his hopelessness in finding love is his fukú.

Children around him did not believe he was a typical Dominican. Generally, Dominicans are smooth in their style of talking, or is not sensitive as a Dominican.

Auntie resents Tayo because he is a half white, his existence is a reminder that his mother slept with a white man and embarrassed their family.

"I go on, hating my cousin for being four years older than me, for being so blond, fair-skinned, and cruel" (Hagedorn, 4)

Rio not being able love her own skin, she is conflicted between being white and filipino.

The ceremony, believing in the destroyers and the one who causes the witchery of their time.

"These days I have to ask myself; What made me angrier? That Oscar, the fat loser, quit, or that Oscar, the fat loser, defied me?" (Diaz, 181).

The mysterious incidents that keeps occurring in Dogeaters.

"They want to change it. They want it to end here, the way all their stories end, encircling slowly to choke the life away. The violence of the struggle excites them, and the killing soothes them" (Selko, 215).

Storytelling storytelling

In Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, Dominican Republic history portrays through Oscar's life.

Oscar believes that he was cursed, while his sister Lola was blessed with beauty and fitting in with the typical Dominiciana. Oscar struggles to find true love, believing because he is fat and is not suave like a Dominican no female would ever love him.

The witchery of all the evil that has happened to Native Americans. All the killing and suffering they go through, they were starting to believe they deserve it. The destroyer keeps causing this evil and Native Americans have to endure it.

"Only last month the body of a woman was found washed up on the banks of the same river. The woman had been beheaded, and her hands and feet were also missing. She has never been identified" (Hagedorn, 46).

  • Linking the three books together through characters suffering darkness.
  • Portraying dark themes, which impact characters lives.
  • Darkness that lingers upon the family and is not controlled by them.

The mysterious crime that keeps happening in the book, showing darkness upon the society which could not be answered.

The ceremony, storytelling plays a huge role in this book. The Native Americans are holding onto them dearly, because that is all that is left for them.

"The only answer I can give you is the least satisfying: you'll have to decide for yourself. What's certain is that nothing’s certain. We are trawling in silences here" (Diaz, 243).

Yunior speaks upon the Dominicans who will never speak about Trujillo years, and the evil he has committed. For this the history will be committed for Oscar and his family because his family never really discusses the past as well.

In Dogeaters, They find ways of discussing filipino history through the characters' lives. And actually going through the past.

"I will tell you something about stories,
[he said]
They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled.
They are all we have, you see,
all we have to fight off
illness and death" (Selko, 2).

Storytelling is imported for the understanding or lessons and gaining knowledge of the past. It keepts the Native Americans close to their traditions and past. With these stories it will help them stay motivated, through "illness and death".

  • These three book relates through a way of storytelling.
  • There history is a sort of doom for all the characters.
  • The history is what makes the family have a little suffering.

Through sections of the book they discuss history. Each chapter has a story of it's own.