Twice-Told Tales.: The Role of Women in Diaz's Work

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

The Role of Women in Diaz's Work

Women play an important role in Diaz’s work. When I think of women in the Dominican Republic, I tend to think of teenage pregnancy, women being used for sex or cheated on, and women being a less superior gender. While these stereotypes prove to be true in the characters throughout Diaz’s work, the qualities of strength and power are also shown.

Both Lola and Magda show strength and courage in Diaz’s books. Lola progresses in the Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. She doesn’t let Yunior control her and dumps him when he cheats on her. She also does not let the fuku define her. When bad things happen, such as Max getting killed or her mom’s cancer relapsing, she tries to overcome the tragedy. She is the only character in the book that does not blame the curse.

Although Magda is not Dominican, she shows assertiveness to Yunior in the This is How You Lose Her. Magda does not have sex with Yunior right away. She shares all of her feelings with him, and when Yunior cheats on her, she makes it near impossible for him to get her back. By waiting to have sex, Magda showed Yunior how to have an actual relationship. She helped progress the power women have in Diaz’s work by being her true self and being in charge of their sex life.

Female sexuality is a source of power in each of Diaz’s work. In Oscar Wao, Lola uses sex as a way of avoiding her problems. For example, she loses her virginity after she finds out her mother is sick. She starts having sex with her friend’s father after La Inca tells her to leave the Dominican Republic. Her mother, Beli, also used sex as power. Beli wanted to feel better about herself and be popular in school. When the most popular boy in school noticed her, she immediately started having sex with him. Despite being treated horribly, she continued to sleep with him because it made her feel powerful and confident in herself.

Yunior repeats the same mistake with women in Diaz’s work; he is a cheater. Yunior cannot stay faithful with the women he seems to love. After he cheats on Magda in This is How You Lose Her, he suddenly realizes he needs to be with her. Yunior pretty much begs for her forgiveness. For example, he takes her to the beach of the Dominican Republic and pays for the whole vacation. He does not encourage her to have sex with him (which is extremely difficult and unlike him). Yunior even cries thinking about his mistake. Yunior shows compassion when Magda decides to leave the vacation early. Before she leaves Yunior takes her hand and says, “All we have to do is try.” (Diaz, 25). He does not want to lose her, but Magda has the strength to walk away.

In conclusion, women play a critical role in Diaz’s work. They provide a stereotype that Dominican women tend to have. They also provide hope for the women reading the book. Both Lola and Magda show progress by standing up to Yunior and believing there is a better life waiting for them.

1 comment:

AmandaApril 15, 2015 at 4:03 PM
Women certainly play an increasingly active role throughout Diaz’s works. Many of the women in Drown were minor characters who have very little control over their own lives. In Oscar Wao, women are given a context in which the audience can comprehend why they do certain things they do or why they act in ways that many would consider strange. In This is How You Lose Her, the women are presented with a much larger realm of control than in any of Diaz’s previous compilations. The women are always the ones leaving Yunior and making him work to mend the relationship. Magda wants to leave him on an island. Alma, after discovering he’s been cheating, throws the evidence in his face in their lawn which forces him into a humiliating position leading him to make arguably the world’s most ridiculous, transparent lie. Veronica leaves him to wake up alone in the morning. Here, the women are taking control of how these relationships pan out. Still, I think one of the most intriguing moments in the novel that represents this sort of gender-role reversal is when Magda hits Yunior. “She hit you? When I first told her. She smacked me right across the chops…They only hit you, he says, when they care. Amen, Barbaro murmurs. Amen” (Diaz, 18). Generally, society hears this type of explanation in discussion about violence against women. I found it very interesting that Diaz took a very typical abused woman situation and applied it the masculine realm as it shows the female characters’—in This is How You Lose Her—ability to control men not only physically, but also psychologically.
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