“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.
I also found this part of the novel interesting because of something that affects everyone can have such a large impact on one person. All of us go through puberty and many times we see people getting made fun of or we make fun of them ourselves. By including this in the novel Junot Diaz is emphasising the uniqueness of every person and how we shouldn’t mock someone for their differences and quirks. Puberty has an impact on your life that will last you a lifetime it can permanently affect your self-confidence and make you more of an anti-social person