Why is Oscar the Hero?

The hero in any story should be one the audience admires and strives to follow. He is one who leads his life in the pursuit of some good. And despite the possibility of character flaws, the hero is someone to emulate due to his underlying tendency of living a life in which he betters himself or those around him. However, this is not the hero we see in Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The hero in this story is Oscar, an introverted Dominican adolescent who drools over nearly every girl he sees. Oscar is lazy, sullen, and unwilling to change his habits. However, despite the obvious fact that there are people who seem to be more deserving of the hero status, it is hard to dismiss Oscar. There is a part of him that one sympathizes with, and through his misery the audience not only feels for him but commiserates with him as well.

            Oscar seems unwilling to change his habits, as if he relishes in his social inaptitude. Even when his loved one’s such as his friends, mother, and sister give him advice Oscar resists changing his ways. For example, his sister, Lola, gave Oscar some practical and easy suggestions by saying, “Cut the hair, lose the glasses, exercise. And get rid of those porn magazines”(Díaz 25). Yet despite these friendly words of advice Oscar remained firm in his listlessness and apathy. Lola’s recommendations seem simple enough; easy tasks that any self-driven person would take the time to fix. Yet, despite the occasional work out or haircut, Oscar continually finds himself in the same self-deprecating routine. And despite this self-deprecation, the reader still feels for him. One does not cast him aside as someone who does not deserve love. Instead, Oscar is seen as one who epitomizes everyone’s struggle with improvement. He is a hyperbolae of the day to day fight to better oneself.

            When looking at the disastrous life of Oscar Wao one can see a bit of themself. There are few people alive who can claim to be exactly who they wish to be. Instead, each individual has parts of themselves that they detest; secret habits or demeanors they wish could go away. One can empathize in Oscar’s inability to dethatch himself from his detestable habits. For example, he “swore early on to change his nerdy ways, [but] he continued to eat, continued not to exercise, continued to use flash words” (Díaz 50). Just as Oscar has trouble ridding himself of his imperfections, so too does the average individual have trouble ridding themselves of imperfections as well. It is this similarity between Oscar and the common man that makes him the hero. Oscar can be admired because he shows the reader someone else who struggles with change and imperfection. Despite all of Oscar’s flaws he can relate to the reader on a personal level, he can share in the readers struggle.