“To the latecomers are left the bones.”
In my own words this quote means, to the people that come late they get whatever is left.
If you are too late in achieving the goal you don’t get the prize you want or the prize at
all.
Literally this quote means if you come late you will only get the remainder of what is left,
in this case the bones. First come, first serve.
However if you think deeply about the quote you can see that it is telling you to react to a
situation as fast as you can or else you will be sorry.
This quote appears in Abelard’s section. His daughter Jacqueline writes the quote as a
means of pushing herself to accomplish her goal of studying medicine in France. So
when she writes it, she is saying to herself she needs to work hard to make it, to not be
left the bones.
This quote also applies to Abelard himself in the sense that he wants to protect his
daughter from Trujillo but fails to accomplish this goal. Trujillo sends Abelard an
invitation to a party that is he having and specifically invites Jacqueline to the party.
Trujillo has a history of raping young attractive girls in the Dominican Republic. Abelard
had many opportunities to protect Jacqueline from Trujillo. One of these opportunities
was sending her with his mistress, Lydia to Cuba. He didn’t take advantage of this
opportunity and was “left the bones.” He is left with the reality of what now will happen
to his daughter if she attends the party or if he fails to bring her at all.
One of the themes in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is the Dominican Curse the
Fuku. This quote is connected to the Fuku because whoever fails Trujillo is cursed.
Abelard fails Trujillo and is therefore cursed. This then affects the rest of the characters
throughout the novel.
One of the characters affected by the curse is Oscar. This quote also applies to him
because he appears to have it all in the beginning of the story with Ana and then loses it
all because he fails to make a move on her. He was late in his reaction of love for her and
she in turn moves on to someone else.
There are a few things I notice about the language of this quote. First of all, it is written
in another language, in this case, French. This signifies Jacqueline’s dedication for her
place of study: the prestigious school in France.
Secondly, I noticed that the quote appears on three pages in the story. To me, this
signifies the importance of its meaning.