The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: Book 1, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

In this chapter told from the narrator’s own perspective, there are footnotes and no section titles, as if the narrator cannot bring himself to make satirical asides on his own life. The narrator’s own episode of fukú reinforces his earlier claim that all Dominicans are cursed, and that to be Dominican is to experience violence. His beating parallels Beli’s in many ways, especially in that he is saved by a stranger in a car, but the narrator is self-aware enough to admit that his own cocky attitude probably helped cause the fight. The narrator seems to feel a lot of remorse for how he used to act, and scoffs at his old belief in his extreme popularity. It is clear that Lola’s big heart is the only thing that convinces her to help the narrator, and that he may have many acquaintances, but he does not have many true friends.

This is the second time that the narrator (Yunior) has described Lola, but he now delves deeper into Lola’s character, possibly because he knows her better at this stage of her life. Still, he highlights the same features of intelligence and independence, though those traits are tinged with bitterness because they are the same traits that cause her to reject him. She clearly has standards above the “player” persona that Yunior puts on. Though Yunior has no problem with being the side man in an affair, Lola feels guilty enough to stop things. Yunior first reveals his name in a piece of dialogue from Lola, suggesting that he never wanted to tell us his name in the first place. Going by “Yunior,” a Spanish inflection of “Junior,” instead of his given name allows the narrator to continue hiding many of the details of his life.

Yunior plays up the self-sacrifice he made in rooming with Oscar, as if he is still trying to convince Lola of his altruism. For her part, Lola is still stuck in the same pattern of denying herself opportunities in order to care for her family. Yunior seems to find this admirable but insane, as he feels almost no connection to his own family. Yunior later admits that he roomed with Oscar out of desperation for an on-campus room, but there is also a deeper level on which Yunior actually seems to want to live in Demarest. He wastes no time in applying to the creative writing program, and all of his jokes about Demarest feel as if they are laid on too thick.

Though he definitely considers Oscar a very strange Dominican, Yunior is one of the few people not to question whether Oscar is Dominican. Yunior seems to understand Oscar’s split-identity. Indeed, Yunior is at least familiar with nerd culture, able to read elvish and stomach Oscar’s movies. Yunior is more shocked by the fact that Oscar is not shy about how much he loves these genres. Yunior likes them too, but is not brave enough to say it, and so becomes extra critical of Oscar.

Oscar and Yunior always bond over writing, one of the few things that Yunior will admit they have in common. Yet while Oscar writes the type of book he loves (fantasy), Yunior writes what he thinks a Dominican man is supposed to write. When Oscar tries to take this detective story seriously, Yunior becomes defensive.

Yunior has perfected the art of putting up a mask so that girls will like him, and cannot understand why Oscar refuses to do the same thing. Both a serial player and a serial liar, Yunior seems to blame the girl he is cheating with for blowing his cover, rather than admitting that he was at fault for cheating. From his distance as the narrator, Yunior later realizes that he should have taken more time to fix himself rather than insisting on “fixing” Oscar. Oscar shows his moral strength by refusing to cover up who he is.

Oscar truly can’t win, as the other students refuse to accept him even when he is trying to fit to their standards. Díaz comments on the impossibility of conforming to a society that refuses to recognize you as fully human. Oscar’s refusal to run paraphrases the famous line from Bartleby the Scrivener: “I’d prefer not to.” There Bartleby opts out of a capitalist system that insists his worth is only in his ability to work. This suggests that inaction is itself a form of resistance to a social system that holds certain people down despite their best efforts.

Yunior’s insecurity comes into sharp relief as he teases Oscar in order to gain back credibility with his other friends. It seems as though Yunior derides Oscar because he is afraid that the other students would say the same things about him. As a way to avoid feeling guilty, Yunior insists that it is Oscar’s fault for letting them tease him. Only later does he admit that he should have done more to actually be Oscar’s friend, instead of just pretending.

Once again, falling in love becomes a moment that changes everything, reinforcing the idea that both love and fate are forces beyond human control. Jenni Muñoz, another beautiful goth Latina, scares the male students because she does not follow the rules of courtship in which males are the initiators. Her nickname, La Jablesse, references a demonic woman who kills her romantic partners. Oscar, though he at least treats Jenni as human, still enacts harmful gender roles because does not take her desires into account. Rather than respecting her right to say no, he persistently follows her until she finally gives in. While all this is happening, Yunior subtly lets it slip that his obsession with Oscar has already begun. Yunior reads Oscar’s journals, though pretends that he is simply looking for information about Jenni.

Love becomes a transformative force, providing Oscar with the will power to better himself that he lacked when he thought he was undesirable. Yunior later seems to regret his hypocrisy in becoming a player-hater when he himself is a player, though he does not apologize for the damaging effect he had on women by being a player. Instead, he blames it on his childhood that stunted his emotional growth. This is another similarity between Oscar and Yunior, as Oscar too shows jealousy when he refuses to let Jenni so much as talk to another boy.

It is clear that Oscar always considered Jenni as little more than a potential love interest rather than a real companion, as their friendship ends when she begins seeing another boy. Díaz comments on the dangers of prioritizing romantic attachments above other kinds of love, showing that Oscar is missing out on forming important human connections because he is hyper-focused on sexual relationships. Yunior too avoids cultivating a friendship with Oscar (and everyone else), keeping the world at arm’s length by refusing to let anyone use his real name. Though Yunior emphasized how sad it was that Oscar started answering to a nickname, he does not see the tragedy in his own self-imposed nickname.

Once again, the mongoose saves a member of the de León family from death. This time, we do not know what caused zafa to appear, but the arrival of the mongoose shows that the curse does not have complete control over Oscar’s life, even though that is all Oscar sees right now. The dramatic tension in this scene is high, because Yunior has already revealed that Oscar will die young. While Oscar’s survival was miraculous, the fatalistic tone continues because Lola is once again held back from her dreams by family tragedy.

Yunior stays inappropriately focused on Lola, even when one of his “best friends” is in the hospital, another sign that he is not yet mature enough to have true relationships with other people. Later, Oscar starts writing again, a sure sign that the depressive episode has passed.

Oscar further distances himself from his suicide attempt by blaming it on the curse. While Yunior dismisses this because he does not believe in the supernatural, Oscar’s point speaks more to the fact that the issues and hardships of their parents have affected their lives as well. Significantly, Yunior does not deal with his disappointment over Lola by retreating into fantasy, as Beli and Oscar did. He recognizes that the world is not perfect, but faces up to it anyway.

Oscar and Yunior are continually bound by their desire to be writers, even though Yunior hides this hope the way he hides every intimate detail about himself. He clearly wants to engage with Oscar on the topic, but can’t bring himself to let go of the false image that his passion for writing will mark him as a nerd. He makes a significant breakthrough when he writes about his childhood, a topic he has conspicuously avoided, but loses hope when he does not receive the recognition for it that he thinks he deserves. For all of his supposed confidence, Yunior is still extremely dependent on the validations of others.

Lola shows again and again that she will never lose heart in her dreams to leave Paterson and see more of the world. Yunior reminds her of the stereotype that Dominicans do not travel, and that a person with her dark skin would be out of place in a historically isolated country like Japan. Yet Yunior is still attracted to Lola’s drive and ambition, and even more ashamed to not be the person that Lola thinks he has the potential to become.

In another example of foreshadowing, Yunior confesses that he will not be able to live up to Lola’s trust, and that the relationship will end poorly. This becomes even more disappointing when it seems as though Yunior has finally learned how to treat Oscar with selflessness and respect. Yunior undermines this act by refusing to take credit for calling Oscar “friend” by only recalling this scene from Oscar’s perspective.

Yunior never acknowledges that reading Oscar’s journal is a strange and even malicious thing to do. Though he claims to be interested in Oscar’s fukú story, it is clear that Yunior is interested in Oscar himself, and especially the ways that the two young men are incredibly similar. The entire last scene, ostensibly ripped from Oscar’s journal, could also be interpreted from Yunior’s perspective, as he might have driven around aimlessly that summer, dreaming of Lola.