From the beginning of the novel it is evident that gender roles and sexism
is a main theme. The author describes the pressures put on Dominican men to get
girlfriends and sleep with women. The main character, Oscar does not embody
this stereotype and struggles to find a girl. He is fat and nerdy, which causes
his friends to become ashamed of him. The author even describes how,
"Anywhere else his triple-zero batting average with the ladies might have passed
without comment, but this is a Dominican kid we're talking about, in a
Dominican family; dude was supposed to have Atomic Level G, was supposed to be
pulling in the bitches with both hands. Everybody noticed his lack of game and
because they were Dominican everybody talked about it" (24). When Oscar
meets Ana, the narrator makes a point to mention how he tries to have a sexual
relationship with her but fails.
It's not only Dominican men who are expected to behave certain way. Women
are also expected to fill a certain role. Later in the novel, Lola describes
how she is expected to be the "perfect Dominican daughter". She
describes it as being a slave, with her mother having a strong hold on her. She
cuts her hair, which angers her mother, and everyone believes that she is a bad
daughter. Because of this, she leaves home and runs away with a boy. She loses
her virginity to him, and describes how it caused her to lose her power. He
pushes her into having sex with him, even when she doesn’t want it.
This shows the contrast between how men and women are viewed in society. Men
are expected to be playboys, getting with multiple women and having sex all the
time. Women, on the other hand are expected to look and act a certain way in
order to please their mothers or men. This theme is important to the context
novel and I think that it can still be applied to the realities of life today.
Men and women are still subjected to certain gender roles and standards that
they are expected to live up to, much like the characters in the novel.
I agree with your blog post and the way in which Diaz creates a stark contrast between the desires and characterization of both male and female characters in order to enumerate the sexism often associated with machismo and hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican Republic. Like you mentioned in your post, Oscar’s fixation and ultimate failure in wooing women makes him miserable and alludes to the enormity of the weight Dominican culture puts on male physique, dominance, and charisma. Romance itself is even approached from the male perspective, with the expectation that a man is the one to choose his partner while the woman is expected to unquestionably accept his demands.
ReplyDeleteHowever, beyond the pressures both genders are burdened with, Diaz’s female characters across the board attempt to defy these norms whereas male figures such as Oscar and Yunior have no agency to change. Like Lola’s rejection of traditional physical beauty, she uses her sexuality to achieve personal gains. She subverts the expectation of female submission and blackmails an older man into giving her money to escape (Diaz 207). Similarly, Belinda uses her sexuality to make tips at the restaurant in Baní. While she is unable to escape objectification from the men there, she is able to use the money to establish independence from La Inca (107). However, male characters like Yunior believe that there is no point in trying to stay loyal to one of his girlfriends because it just isn’t in the genes of a Dominican man (175). This is the central difference between the male and female characters’ response to cultural and societal pressures; female characters believe they have the efficacy to overcome it while the male characters in the novel believe they are, and will always be victims of the circumstances.
I definitely agree that there are certain gender roles that come to prominence in this novel, and they certainly drive the actions of the characters and the novel itself. The distinction between the male and female characters, however, I feel can be attributed to their culture as well. The Dominican culture places preconceptions upon them leading them to believe they need to act or be a certain way. Without these implications, however, it would be difficult for the reader to conduct a character analysis. The evident sexism in the novel goes to explain much of the relationships amongst the characters and the individuals conceptions the characters have of themselves. Due to their gender roles the characters are almost prompted to act as they do, although this could be contributed to their innate tendencies, it is no doubt that both these gender roles and the implications of the Dominican culture are at play here.
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