Life of Oscar Wao: A Reflection of the PastBeing a nerd of color is difficult, but being a Dominican immigrant nerd of color is practically hopeless. Oscar lives in a world that reflects the history of his country. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, the use of historical references is important to the book as a whole in order to understand Oscar's current life. Although the book is about Oscar, the majority of the novel tells the story of León's family and their life under the curse of fukú. For Oscar's family, being an immigrant was difficult because of the impact the history had on the family. Living in the Dominican Republic at the time of a horrible dictatorship was not an easy life for Oscar's mother Belicia. The way she and her family were treated reflects the way Oscar's identity was shaped. Because Oscar, being a Dominican immigrant, goes through struggle after struggle in order to prove to others how truly Dominican he is despite what others think. While people think he's the complete opposite of a masculine Dominican, Oscar tries to prove them wrong. Her struggle to find love and maintain a stable relationship also reflects her family's romantic history with consistently failed relationships. All the inevitable incidents, events, and conflicts in Oscar's life are a direct representation of the history of his family's past. Cultural, political, and family history explains the similarities between the past and present that ultimately lead Oscar to his inevitable fate. Much of Oscar's story revolves around the family curse and how everyone in the Caribbean has lived with a curse. One of the story roles in the book is ... middle of paper ... life when he finally decides to go after the woman of his dreams, despite the consequences. In history, history really tends to repeat itself for Oscar. What happened to Oscar is closely related to what happened to Belicia in the past, from having unhealthy relationships to being beaten in the sugar cane fields because of those relationships. The role of the story tends to serve as a vehicle to foreshadow future events in Oscar's life. If the story hadn't unfolded the way it did, with terror spreading to Trujillo, Oscar and Lola wouldn't have had a life in New Jersey to escape evil. If Oscar had never left the Dominican Republic, his fragile self-esteem would have been in a worse place than it is today. Although his family was lucky enough to escape to New Jersey, Oscar's escape attempt was unsuccessful as his life ended where it began..