“Early adolescence hit him especially hard, scrambling his face into nothing you could call cute,… couldn’t make friends for the life of him, too dorky, too shy, and too weird.” (page16-17)

In this sentence, Junot Diaz is describing the drastic change the protagonist, Oscar Wao, goes through. He talks about how Oscar got fat and develops a face full of zits. His confidence drops and he doesn’t kiss or speak to a girl in the longest time. Girls would avoid him and find him disgusting. Diaz uses the words “hit him especially hard” to emphasis the affect adolescence and puberty had on him. He goes on to talk about the physical change in appearance, as well as the personality change. Oscar becomes an introvert with this low level of self-esteem. The concept of puberty is incorporated a lot in the beginning of the novel. Diaz also talks about how Olga and Maritza have grown and changed with puberty. This sentence is incorporated and relevant to the text as a whole because this change with adolescence is the reason Oscar’s life becomes what it is. He has difficulty with girls and love because of his appearance. He doesn’t really make friends, and his confidence level drops drastically. This change affects the rest of his life.

“The Gangster’s Wife was … Trujillo’s fucking sister! Did you really think some street punk from Samana was going to reach the upper echelons of the Trujillato on hard work alone?” Pg 138

In Juno Diaz’s, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,  he writes this after Beli and the Gangster reunite in which Beli announces that she will have his child. At this point she is madly in love with him and practically loves him for his money which has no clear occupation besides working for Trujillo. This quote is significant in its immediate context to provide the readers with a plot twist for we are never aware of him being a husband to another women besides Beli. When Juno Diaz asks his question at the end , it is to bring up the fact that this man did anything to gain power and wealth because we are acknowledged that he was born into a  poor family. We are now aware that he is married Trujillo’s sister, Trujillo was the dictator at the time, for his best interest.

Juno Diaz writes to gather the whole story to show how Beli’s relationships always had a unfortunate ending. This can explain why the Gangster’s wife finds Beli to threaten her and  sends her off with her men to a doctor while on there way to their destination they abuse Beli. This information is significant to the whole story because it reveals how close Beli and her family was to Trujillo by her parents that had issues with him before for their home and how now she herself was blackmailed by Trujillo’s sister. This led to Beli’s decision to leave for New York so she can lay low under the radar from Trujillo and his men, even though he was murdered that same night Beli was threatened, his people were still out for revenge.

“Heck she liked the job. It was not exactly President of the Republic, but for a fourteen-year-old who wanted out of her the house, it paid, and kept her in the world while she waited for-for her Glorious Future to materialize” (Diaz, 103)

The first sentence is necessary for the following one to be better understood. We can assume from the wording that the job Belicia managed to earn is one that she would have reason to dislike. The narrating voice is surprised however, that she has come around to tolerate and even appreciate the work that is now required of her by employment.The following sentence is the author’s reasoning as to why exactly this job that most would find intolerable was instead highly convenient for her. By mentioning her age and desire to leave the house, we see she is a rebellious teenager looking to separate from her parents and start her life. Though this job may not be as prestigious as the office of the President, it was one enough to leave her more than grateful because of its significance. Her actually running away from her parents is both unrealistic and not what she truly wants. Belicia is looking for an improvement of her current condition by either a change of environment or responsibilities. With this job, she now has something that can both keep her held down and serve as a source of income while she optimistically awaits for her life to unfold in her favor.