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UNFREED BLACK BODIES: GENERATIONAL PAIN IN THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO

Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 376 - 390, 25.09.2023

Abstract

In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz narrates the agony and death his characters experience as they transition between various spaces. Starting with Abelard Luis Cabral, three generations of Oscar’s family are cursed due to the fukú caused by Abelard’s misconduct towards Dominican dictator Trujillo. Even though the two generations succeeding Abelard try to overcome the difficulties they experience by seeking spatial transition as a solution, their attempts prove to be futile. The bodies of the protagonist Oscar and his mother Belicia end up tortured in sugarcane fields that are notorious for their connection to slavery. In this context, Díaz introduces diaspora as a means of protection against the violence of institutional hegemonies in the Dominican Republic. The diasporic move from Santo Domingo to the United States, and vice versa, result either in a diasporic alienation or a transition from freedom to unfreedom. Translocality of the Cabrals and de Leóns demonstrates itself through constant movements as family members struggle to survive the pain transcending generations. Oscar cannot detach himself from the fukú that haunts his family as well as from the collective memory of the colonized Hispaniola. This paper will address the physical pain experienced by Cabrals and de Leóns, and how diasporic spatial transitions cause them to form deeper connections with the colonial and dictatorial past they are struggling to escape from.

References

  • Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life (Daniel Heller-Roazen, Trans.). Stanford University Press.
  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
  • Díaz, J. (2007). The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Riverhead Novels.
  • Edwards, B. H. (2007). Langston Hughes and the futures of diaspora. American Literary History, 19(3), 689-711.
  • Figueora, Y. C. (2015). Faithful witnessing as practice: Decolonial readings of shadows of your black memory and the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Hypatia, 30(4), 641-656.
  • Gasztold, B. (2013). A Dominican-American experience of not quite successful assimilation: Junot Diaz’s the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. In J. Fabiszak & E. Urbaniak-Rybicka, & B. Wolski (Eds.), Crossroads in literature and culture (pp. 209-220). Springer.
  • Güzel Köşker, N. H. (2023). Racial identity and the American nation in Langston Hughes’ short story “Home.” In D. Biswas & P. Eliopoulos & J. C. Ryan (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Nationalism: Political and Literary Discourses (pp. 226-240). Routledge.
  • Matory, J. L. (2005). Conclusion: The Afro-Atlantic dialogue. In Black Atlantic religion: Tradition, transnationalism, and matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian candomble (pp. 267–294). Princeton University Press.
  • Mattheis, L. (2021). Silence, absence and non-place. In Translocality in contemporary city novels (pp. 165-193). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Mbembe, A. (2003). Necropolitics. (Libby Meintjes, Trans.). Public Culture, 15 (1), 11–40.
  • Richardson, J. T. (2016). Enduring the curse: The legacy of intergenerational trauma in Junot Díaz’s the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. In The Afro-Latin@ experience in contemporary American literature and culture: Engaging blackness (pp. 27-48). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Roorda, E. P. (2016). Historical dictionary of the Dominican Republic. Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Saldívar, J. D. (2011). Conjectures on “Americanity” and Junot Díaz's “fukú americanus” in the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. The Global South, 5(1), 120-136.
  • Sarmiento de Gamboa, P. (1572/2007). The History of the Incas (B. S. Bauer & V. Smith, Trans. & Eds.). University of Texas Press.

TUTSAKLAŞTIRILAN SİYAH BEDENLER: THE BRİEF WONDROUS LİFE OF OSCAR WAO’DA NESİLLERARASI ACI

Year 2023, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 376 - 390, 25.09.2023

Abstract

Junot Díaz, Pulitzer ödüllü kitabı The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao’da karakterlerinin çeşitli mekanlar arasında geçiş yaparken deneyimlediği acı ve ölümü kaleme almaktadır. Abelard Luis Cabral’dan başlayarak Oscar’ın ailesinden üç nesil, Abelard’ın Dominikli diktatör Trujillo’ya karşı kabahati sebebiyle başlayan fukú ile lanetlenmişlerdir. Hispaniola’nın sömürgeleştirilmesi ve akabinde yerlilerin köleleştirilmesinden kaynaklanan fukú, romandaki aile üyelerini özgürlüğü elinden alınmış insanlara dönüştürür. Abelard’dan sonra gelen iki kuşak karşılaştıkları zorlukları mekânsal geçişlere yönelerek aşmaya çalışsalar da çabaları faydasız kalır. Ana karakter Oscar ve annesi Belicia kölelik bağlantıları sebebiyle kötü bir ün salmış olan şeker kamışı tarlalarında işkenceye uğrarlar. Bu bağlamda, Díaz diasporayı Dominik Cumhuriyeti’nin kurumsal hegemonilerinin şiddetine karşı bir korunma aracı olarak ele alır. Santo Domingo’dan Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’ne ve tam tersi yönde yapılan diasporik hareket ya diasporik yabancılaşma ile ya da özgürlükten tutsaklığa geçişle sonuçlanmaktadır. Cabral’ler ve de León’ların translokalitesi, karakterlerin nesilleri aşan bir acıdan sağ kurtulmaya çalışırken daimi olarak hareket halinde olmalarından anlaşılır. Oscar, ailesinin peşini bırakmayan fukú ile arasındaki bağlantıyı kesemediği gibi, kendisini sömürgeleştirilmiş Hispaniola’nın kolektif belleğinden de ayıramaz. Bu makale, Cabral’ler ve de León’ların deneyimlediği fiziksel acıyı ve diasporik mekânsal geçişlerin kaçmaya çalıştıkları şiddet dolu sömürgeci ve diktatöryal geçmişleriyle nasıl daha derin bağlar kurmalarına neden olduğunu ele almaktadır.

References

  • Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life (Daniel Heller-Roazen, Trans.). Stanford University Press.
  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.
  • Díaz, J. (2007). The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Riverhead Novels.
  • Edwards, B. H. (2007). Langston Hughes and the futures of diaspora. American Literary History, 19(3), 689-711.
  • Figueora, Y. C. (2015). Faithful witnessing as practice: Decolonial readings of shadows of your black memory and the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. Hypatia, 30(4), 641-656.
  • Gasztold, B. (2013). A Dominican-American experience of not quite successful assimilation: Junot Diaz’s the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. In J. Fabiszak & E. Urbaniak-Rybicka, & B. Wolski (Eds.), Crossroads in literature and culture (pp. 209-220). Springer.
  • Güzel Köşker, N. H. (2023). Racial identity and the American nation in Langston Hughes’ short story “Home.” In D. Biswas & P. Eliopoulos & J. C. Ryan (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Nationalism: Political and Literary Discourses (pp. 226-240). Routledge.
  • Matory, J. L. (2005). Conclusion: The Afro-Atlantic dialogue. In Black Atlantic religion: Tradition, transnationalism, and matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian candomble (pp. 267–294). Princeton University Press.
  • Mattheis, L. (2021). Silence, absence and non-place. In Translocality in contemporary city novels (pp. 165-193). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Mbembe, A. (2003). Necropolitics. (Libby Meintjes, Trans.). Public Culture, 15 (1), 11–40.
  • Richardson, J. T. (2016). Enduring the curse: The legacy of intergenerational trauma in Junot Díaz’s the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. In The Afro-Latin@ experience in contemporary American literature and culture: Engaging blackness (pp. 27-48). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Roorda, E. P. (2016). Historical dictionary of the Dominican Republic. Rowman & Littlefield.
  • Saldívar, J. D. (2011). Conjectures on “Americanity” and Junot Díaz's “fukú americanus” in the brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao. The Global South, 5(1), 120-136.
  • Sarmiento de Gamboa, P. (1572/2007). The History of the Incas (B. S. Bauer & V. Smith, Trans. & Eds.). University of Texas Press.
There are 14 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects North American Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section TOBİDER - International Journal of Social Sciences Volume 7 Issue 2
Authors

Gamze Katı Gümüş 0000-0002-6416-3218

Early Pub Date September 23, 2023
Publication Date September 25, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2023 Volume: 7 Issue: 2

Cite

APA Katı Gümüş, G. (2023). UNFREED BLACK BODIES: GENERATIONAL PAIN IN THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO. Uluslararası Toplumsal Bilimler Dergisi, 7(2), 376-390.