Junot Diaz Saves the World
Junot Diaz is the author of the recently published novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The novel is an ostensible coming of age story about Oscar, nicknamed Wao as a subversion of the famous writer Oscar Wilde, a nerdy teenager who loves American pop culture and dreams of being the next J.R.R. Tolkien. Only, Oscar and his family are not natural born American citizens, but rather immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Their heritage is also of the darker-skinned Dominican. This throws a considerable wrench into things for Oscar, his runaway sister, and their mother, seemingly both in the DR and in the U.S.
Diaz knows firsthand what kind of wrenches can be thrown into the paths of immigrant kids from the Dominican Republic - that's where he is from. He was born there, but raised in New Jersey and did become a writer, maybe not on a par with Tolkien yet, but surely on his way, as he has written for The New Yorker and The Paris Review. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao will hit the big screen in '09 or '10. There is a weight and validity behind his words; they should be taken seriously. Oh, and did I mention he is a professor of creative writing at MIT?
Just what should be taken so seriously about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, you might ask? Its prose is unquestionably crude but lyrical, but an even weightier issue than the novel's literary achievement lurks just behind the cover of the Marvel comic books Oscar always reads. Ostensibly the novel is about tradition, melding old ways with new life in America, family history, and perseverance despite the odds. But Diaz also opens up the entire issue which has been starring the U.S. in the face for the last 100 years and despite the recent push for multiculturalism, viz. how to fit in in America or anyplace where Whites have dominated within the last 400 - 500 years, how to put all that history into some kind of rational order and understanding, how to synthesize it into a whole America where a kid (all kids) can be what he wants to be.
And, that's huge, but Diaz is also talking about the current state of teenagers here. Not just immigrant teenagers, but all American teenagers. Diaz brings to light just how hard life is for teenagers in America today through Oscar Wao (even though Oscar now belongs to almost another generation of kids who came up in the late 80's and early 90's). In a phone interview with Rich Fisher on Radio Tulsa January 3, 2007, Diaz even went so far to say that life is tough in America for all of us.
A quote from the book's frontispiece sums up this theme:
"Of what import are brief, nameless lives....to Galactus??"
Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Vol. I, No. 49, April 1966
This hit me like a ton of bricks, not because what Diaz was saying was anything I hadn't thought of before myself, but because someone was actually verbalizing it. It's not really an idea that you see on the Food Network or E! or HG TV. After all, chasing the American Dream is what it's all about, right?
Diaz makes the point that the competitive, superficial lifestyle of the U.S. paired with the fact that the traditional support mechanisms have broken down for families make fertile ground for teen rebellion, and I think he is right. Yes, it is also what made our country the world's Superpower and gives us so many creature comforts, but at what cost, real and potential? Our teens, regardless of how affluent, often work twenty or more hours per week. Even the poorest teen has an iPod and a cell phone made outside the United States, but can't identify the flag of Communist China.
This trend in youth rebellion began with the Lost Generation, followed 30 years later by James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause, and the rest of teen rebellion is history. But, this is something so entirely different that I think we have been lulled into ignoring it because we adults have been hypnotized, too (Chrissie has addressed this in her last two blogs).
Yes, teens have rebelled in the past, but not in the same ways as today. In the past teens didn't walk into their schools and shoot their peers. They didn't go all goth and do a Marilyn Manson on their families (although hippies did look pretty scruffy, but the same principal applies to them as I am getting at here). In the past teens looked like a microcosm of decent adult society. Mark Twain may have thought his father was an idiot at 18, but he didn't paint his eyes with black eyeliner and tattoo his entire body or pierce his genitals or wear his jeans halfway down his behind with his boxers showing. Now we see these things on 30-year-olds. Are these signs that individual freedoms have reached their apotheosis in American culture?
No, these are signs that we have let our teens and young adults down. They are babied, but not supported - there is a difference. They are coddled and do not learn from their lessons. They have all the rights and privileges of adults, but little of the responsibility. They live in a world that is hard because all of the traditional mechanisms for coping with life have broken down. They come to school hungry because they haven't had breakfast, have a twenty minute lunch, go straight to work after school, get home at 9:00 p.m., poke at their homework, and "collapse" into bed where they proceed to talk on their MySpace or cell phone until four in the morning, unbeknownst and unattended to by their parents. Yes, their life IS hard and they are perpetually starving, and they don't even know what for.
We think we are supporting them, but we're not - we don't even understand them. Life has changed so drastically and quickly during the last ten years we can't even begin to understand how these electronically connected kids think, much less know what to do about it. But, we need to find out.
I think Junot Diaz has hit upon something that could save the world, or at least the United States. He has opened up the dialogue about what America means, what both family history and national histories mean, and what our failure to provide kids with an understanding is doing to our young citizens. He has shown the very great need for a better support mechanism in our homes and in our schools. Most of all, he has de-object-ified the immigrant and shown us that in our diversity we are one, all with expectations of family and living the good life and fulfilling our own American Dream.
And, he has pointed out a great irony in our easy American life today - that, to quote Diaz, life in America IS hard. Now, that is something to open up a great debate about - have any of the Presidential candidates addressed this issue yet? That I would like to hear.
Diaz knows firsthand what kind of wrenches can be thrown into the paths of immigrant kids from the Dominican Republic - that's where he is from. He was born there, but raised in New Jersey and did become a writer, maybe not on a par with Tolkien yet, but surely on his way, as he has written for The New Yorker and The Paris Review. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao will hit the big screen in '09 or '10. There is a weight and validity behind his words; they should be taken seriously. Oh, and did I mention he is a professor of creative writing at MIT?
Just what should be taken so seriously about The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, you might ask? Its prose is unquestionably crude but lyrical, but an even weightier issue than the novel's literary achievement lurks just behind the cover of the Marvel comic books Oscar always reads. Ostensibly the novel is about tradition, melding old ways with new life in America, family history, and perseverance despite the odds. But Diaz also opens up the entire issue which has been starring the U.S. in the face for the last 100 years and despite the recent push for multiculturalism, viz. how to fit in in America or anyplace where Whites have dominated within the last 400 - 500 years, how to put all that history into some kind of rational order and understanding, how to synthesize it into a whole America where a kid (all kids) can be what he wants to be.
And, that's huge, but Diaz is also talking about the current state of teenagers here. Not just immigrant teenagers, but all American teenagers. Diaz brings to light just how hard life is for teenagers in America today through Oscar Wao (even though Oscar now belongs to almost another generation of kids who came up in the late 80's and early 90's). In a phone interview with Rich Fisher on Radio Tulsa January 3, 2007, Diaz even went so far to say that life is tough in America for all of us.
A quote from the book's frontispiece sums up this theme:
"Of what import are brief, nameless lives....to Galactus??"
Fantastic Four, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Vol. I, No. 49, April 1966
This hit me like a ton of bricks, not because what Diaz was saying was anything I hadn't thought of before myself, but because someone was actually verbalizing it. It's not really an idea that you see on the Food Network or E! or HG TV. After all, chasing the American Dream is what it's all about, right?
Diaz makes the point that the competitive, superficial lifestyle of the U.S. paired with the fact that the traditional support mechanisms have broken down for families make fertile ground for teen rebellion, and I think he is right. Yes, it is also what made our country the world's Superpower and gives us so many creature comforts, but at what cost, real and potential? Our teens, regardless of how affluent, often work twenty or more hours per week. Even the poorest teen has an iPod and a cell phone made outside the United States, but can't identify the flag of Communist China.
This trend in youth rebellion began with the Lost Generation, followed 30 years later by James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause, and the rest of teen rebellion is history. But, this is something so entirely different that I think we have been lulled into ignoring it because we adults have been hypnotized, too (Chrissie has addressed this in her last two blogs).
Yes, teens have rebelled in the past, but not in the same ways as today. In the past teens didn't walk into their schools and shoot their peers. They didn't go all goth and do a Marilyn Manson on their families (although hippies did look pretty scruffy, but the same principal applies to them as I am getting at here). In the past teens looked like a microcosm of decent adult society. Mark Twain may have thought his father was an idiot at 18, but he didn't paint his eyes with black eyeliner and tattoo his entire body or pierce his genitals or wear his jeans halfway down his behind with his boxers showing. Now we see these things on 30-year-olds. Are these signs that individual freedoms have reached their apotheosis in American culture?
No, these are signs that we have let our teens and young adults down. They are babied, but not supported - there is a difference. They are coddled and do not learn from their lessons. They have all the rights and privileges of adults, but little of the responsibility. They live in a world that is hard because all of the traditional mechanisms for coping with life have broken down. They come to school hungry because they haven't had breakfast, have a twenty minute lunch, go straight to work after school, get home at 9:00 p.m., poke at their homework, and "collapse" into bed where they proceed to talk on their MySpace or cell phone until four in the morning, unbeknownst and unattended to by their parents. Yes, their life IS hard and they are perpetually starving, and they don't even know what for.
We think we are supporting them, but we're not - we don't even understand them. Life has changed so drastically and quickly during the last ten years we can't even begin to understand how these electronically connected kids think, much less know what to do about it. But, we need to find out.
I think Junot Diaz has hit upon something that could save the world, or at least the United States. He has opened up the dialogue about what America means, what both family history and national histories mean, and what our failure to provide kids with an understanding is doing to our young citizens. He has shown the very great need for a better support mechanism in our homes and in our schools. Most of all, he has de-object-ified the immigrant and shown us that in our diversity we are one, all with expectations of family and living the good life and fulfilling our own American Dream.
And, he has pointed out a great irony in our easy American life today - that, to quote Diaz, life in America IS hard. Now, that is something to open up a great debate about - have any of the Presidential candidates addressed this issue yet? That I would like to hear.
Labels: Junot Diaz Saves the World; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
posted by Melony Carey and Chrissie Wagner at
2:17 PM
2 Comments:
Something that would make life easier for less affluent teens would be if Muskogee had better transportation besides just the trolleys, which is a good start. If you don't have a car, it is so hard to get around in most of America.
I agree. I do know the city has tried to look at other options and the trolley's are a good start.
I was surprised to learn that an across town cab ride is only $5.00 so if several kids got together it would be pretty reasonable wouldn't it? There is a Teen Advisory Board through the Muskogee LIbrary. They need advocates and young people with a vision and good ideas. Maybe you might contact them about the group?? Glad to hear from you!!! What other things do you see as something Muskogee needs for it's youth? C
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