The+Brief+Wonderous+Life+of+Oscar+Wao+5B

Group Members:
Andrew G Harry P Maggie O Mike C Beth W
 * Julie J.


 * Facilitator:** Mike Cormier

**__Questions:__**
Factual/Clarifying Questions- Characters-
 * 1) Who is in power in the Dominican Republic when Oscar goes back?
 * 2) Is there a concrete reason why the US Embassy refuses to help when Oscar is in trouble?
 * 1) What effect does the fukú have on each character?
 * 2) How does the Dominican Republic's societal expectations for males and females influence the development of each character?
 * 3) How does the interconnectedness of characters affect the reader's perception of each person in the novel?

Narration-
 * 1) Who is the narrator in relation to the other characters?
 * 2) Why does the narrator change from an unidentified character to Yunior in different sections?

Setting-
 * 1) What does the Dominican Republic represent in the novel?
 * 2) How does the fact that the author is Dominican affect the depth of the novel and its descriptions?

Themes/Motifs-
 * 1) Why does the narrator constantly reference the Lord of The Rings?
 * 2) What significance does cultural identity hold in the novel?
 * 3) There is a recurring theme of love throughout the novel, how does this present itself between characters?
 * 4) How does the desire to "get away" represent a larger motif throughout the novel?

Style of Writing-
 * 1) How does the narrator's language affect the reader's view of characters/situations?
 * 2) Why is the novel broken up into different sections, each from a different character's point of view?
 * 3) How does the fact that Díaz adds humor in his writing to the horrifying events that are occurring in the process, affect the way one looks at the incidents?

Significant Quotes-
 * 1) "Success, after all, loves a witness, but failure can't exist without one." (136)
 * 2) "And for the first time in her life began to remember her dreams. It was a luxury she'd never dared indulge in" (261)
 * 3) "But if these years have taught me anything it is this: you can never run away. Not ever. The only way out is in." (209)

Outside Resources- "But “The Brief Wondrous Life” isn’t Oscar’s story alone. Indeed, he often seems like a bit of an exile in the book that bears his name. The recounting of his thwarted romances, his suicide attempt, his friendships and his literary projects is interrupted — and overshadowed — by episodes of family history that reverse the migratory path from the D.R. to the U.S.A. and concentrate on the women in Oscar’s family." []

"People can say what they want, but historically, feminism in the Dominican Republic has been extremely strong. I guess the best way of saying it is that no one could have survived what we survived--whether it was first extermination and slavery, then abandonment and erasure, then the sereis of gunboat two-bit dictatorships, followed by the final apotheosis of dictatorships, the //Trujillato//. You couldn't survive it without the resistance of this kind of woman. And the final thing is diaspora: We all got held together." From "Junot Díaz"- an interview by Juleyka Lantigua of Junot Díaz/ Progressive Magazine, September 2007.

Cool blog entry book review that gives an everyday opinion of the book. Interesting change from reading a book review by a book reviewer. []

A book review and video interview with Díaz. Originally, __The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao__ appeard as a short story in the New Yorker, and eight years later, it turned into the novel we are discussing. []

__**Thank-You/Closing**__
__**Food/Drink Volunteers**__ Maggie-Cookies Beth- Food Harry&Andrew- Drinks