“All my life I’d been swearing that one day I would just disappear. And one day I did.” -Lola (page 61)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao finally takes a different point of view in chapter two as Lola takes control of the book rather than Oscar.  The chapter starts off by Lola portraying a scenario for the reader in which the reader’s mother has breast cancer.  From this portrayal,  it seems there is a sense of sympathy Lola has for her mother when she does describe this scenario.  Although this notion of sympathy proves to be wrong as she later runs away from her mother because she is tired of her controlling figure in her household, proving that Lola actually had no sorrow feeling for her mother from the beginning.  This leaves the reader in confusion because up till that moment in the book, Lola never tells anyone that she is having thoughts of running away, rather the only basis the reader has for Lola’s departure is her arguments with her mother regarding her own “punk girl” appearance. She says to herself that she would be gone from her home one day right before she fled her house and as soon as she did, she provides a story for the reader involving her and her mother’s argument at the dinner table.  The argument can thus cause speculation to say that this was the last straw for Lola, and that for her to be finally free from her mother meant that she had to leave her even though she had breast cancer. Indeed the beginning of the chapter leads the reader to a misconception making him/her think that Lola is hurting because of her mother’s sickness, but rather the reader truly finds out what Lola feels for her mother as her feelings are filled with nothing but bad thoughts.

“You killed my baby!” she screamed. “You killed him!” (page 14)

This sentence is spoken by Rufus’ mother who had accused Dana, the woman who was trying to save Rufus from dying from drowning in a river, of killing her son when in fact she was just trying to help him by giving him mouth to mouth at the moment.  She screams “you killed my baby” twice at Dana, suggesting an interesting idea of how Rufus’ mother, a white lady, saw Dana who was a black woman in that moment.  An idea that portrays that even when Dana was trying her level best to bring good to the situation, she was only still labeled as a killer.  Maybe this was because of her skin color or maybe it wasn’t.  Sadly, this was the prevailing idea brought upon this situation.

I find it shocking that these words came out of Rufus’ mother’s mouth because she did witness Dana trying to save Rufus at the time.  Even Rufus’ dad came out of nowhere with a long rifle pointed towards Dana, after she had saved him which suggests a major idea of a prejudice mentality.  A prejudice mentality like that can be unfortunately supported since it was 1976, as people were still getting used to black people being around everyone else as if it were normal.  This sentence justifies this theme of preconceiving an opinion that is not based on reason by Rufus’ mother and father by the actions they took when Dana saved their son.

“But to hear of the distress which these unfortunate people have suffered, would fill with horror the stoutest heart, and make them the most obdurate melt with pity” (page 61)

This quote reflects and provides the attitude of the Haitians during the revolution, as they had suffered too much from the French people. Mary, the writer of the letters to her friend back in the United States, uses the words “stoutest” to describe the heart of the Haitians in order to convey the sense of bravery the people there had in themselves. They started a revolution against injustice and inequality. Mary also uses the word “obdurate” to provide an idea of the attitude of the Haitians in knowing that they would not quit until they got what they wanted. This was said of them even though she heard of the “distress” and the suffering these people went through, and that clearly shows a lot about them.

I found this quote perfect for the entire letter, and especially perfect that it was placed in the first letter out of the many that are to come because it reflects and helps Mary’s friend realize and open a perspective to how strong these people were. In the first letter, it is only described about the revolution and the culture of the people. I feel as if this letter is a stepping stone and has a foreshadowing effect for the people of Haiti, as they will have success to come in the future.  The two words “stoutest” and “obdurate” are perfect for these series of letters ahead.

“As thou got’st Milan,
I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword. One stroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest.
And I the king shall love thee.” (Act 2. sc. 1, line # 333-336. Page 73)

In Act 2 scene 1, Everyone on the island including Alonso and Gonzalo fall asleep after Ariel invisibly appears and sings. During this time, Sebastian and Antonio start talking about possible advantages of killing Gonzalo and Alonso. It is Antonio who is trying to persuade Sebastian into doing this, and Sebastian is easily convinced evident as to when he even starts talking about initiating the murder by saying “Draw thy sword. One stroke…” One of the possible advantages and benefits for Sebastian if these two men were killed would’ve been that Sebastian would end up being King of Naples, evident as to when Sebastian said “As thou got’st Milan, I’ll come by Naples.” For Antonio, a benefit would be not having to pay anymore money to Naples, and this is shown when Sebastian offers this potential outcome when he says “…Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest.” Clearly, these two men find benefits if this horrendous act would be committed.

This line is really pivotal to the play, especially where this event is taking place in the book. This is taking place in Act 2, scene 1 and this is the first plan to kill someone in the book. It is safe to say that this line foreshadows what is to come in the coming scenes and throughout the play, as this is one of the first dramatic moments in the play. Since it is one of the first, it can a possible guess and assumption to say that the play is going to have more killing, especially since Sebastian and Antonio didn’t get to complete their mission in killing Gonzalo and Alonso. Having a potential murder scene in the play this early can attribute thought provoking assumptions as to what will happen further on in the play.

“Beyond the fact that they have no church, no religion, and are not idolaters, what more can I say?” (Page 34)

This quote spoken by America Vespucci portrays and once again emphasizes how much religion played a part in the current times of the voyages. Just by the subtle four worded question that was relayed from Vespucci’s mouth, “what more can I say?”, implied that what he saw in the Native Americans left him starstruck and speechless. He clearly had never seen something like this before where there was no sense of spiritual connection with the people of the region. I find the question at the end of the quote said by Vespucci as such a strong impactful way of questioning these people and a means of potential further analyzation. At a time where Christianity was the only thing that they knew from where they had come from, observing people like these can leave you speechless. Other than the surprising fact that they have no religion, Vespucci is disgusted by the fact that they have their women “being very lustful” and causing the private part of the man to swell up. I feel disgusted by that too actually and I feel as if his views all in all were clearly negative. Although, I feel like the way he stated that they have no religion just justified why they were who these people were. Vespucci used the words “beyond the fact” in trying to basically portray that them having no spirituality with a Higher Being was the last straw. He mentioned most of the disgusting, abnormal characteristics and then brought up religion to show that there is nothing to do with them. I really enjoy the piece of writing and structure that was built in this passage because I can possibly conclude and assume that Vespucci believes that the Native Americans are abnormal and disgusting because religion is nonexistent in their culture.