Trujillo as a Microsystem for The Dangers of Dictatorship
Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao describes the past events of
the de Leon family that leads them all on a sad, depressing path. The root of the many
problems of the de Leon family results from the brutal reign of the Dominican dictator,
Rafael Trujillo Molina. Trujillo, like many other dictators, is an egotistical, threatening,
persistant, and irrational bully. With these qualities, Trujillo was able to rule the
Dominican Republic for thirty-one years. However, Díaz effectively undermines his
leadership by portraying Trujillo as a disgusting, superhuman villain, and utilizes this
portrayal as a microsystem to criticize the negative aspects of dictatorship in general. In
an interview, Díaz says it himself that “[t]his novel…is all about the dangers of
dictatorship – Trujillo is just the face I use to push these issues” (O’Rourke). Through
the description of Trujillo, Díaz characterizes a dictator as an omnipresent, almost
supernatural person that devalues individuality of people and engenders fear in the
public, causing people to submit to the dictator’s authority and to allow for such nonsense
what nonsense? Be more specific here to carry on for so long. Furthermore, Díaz
connects Trujillo and the Dominican belief of the fukú curse to declare that Trujillo is
ultimately an extension of the curse that continues the wrath and exploitation of the
Dominican Republic.
One way a dictator is so successful is due to his universal presence. Trujillo
engenders fear in his citizens by infusing his existence in all of the Dominican Republic
to remind the country that he will always be watching. In the section titled, El Hollywood,
Beli enters her first club, El Hollywood. Díaz inserts a footnote explaining how El
Hollywood was “a favorite hangout of Trujillo’s, my mother tells me when the
manuscript is almost complete,” revealing that neither the narrator, Yunior, nor Beli
knew that this particular club was visited frequently by Trujillo (114). The fact that Beli
was unaware that Trujillo visited this club many times communicates how Trujillo
permeates the Dominican Republic without having to be physically present. Moreover,
the fact that Beli meets a gangster in this club, falls in love with him, carries his baby,
and later discovers that the gangster is married to Trujillo’s sister demonstrates how
Trujillo is connected to the character’s lives through places, relationships, and by just
living on the land that Trujillo has walked upon and infested.
The reason for this constant watching or connection between a dictator and its
people is to make sure mainly that everyone is loyal to the government and no one is
speaking out against the dictatorship. Trujillo definitely uses his all-pervading eye to
silence any protestors or to just get back at people he does not like. Dr. Abelard Luis
Cabral, Beli’s father, protects his daughters from Trujillo’s lustful request for them.
Consequently, Trujillo finds any excuse to punish Abelard for disobeying his demand to
interact with his daughters. After Trujillo’s party, where Trujillo specifically invited
Abelard’s daughters, Abelard appears to be quite drunk and disheveled. Some of his
“buddies” invite him for a few drinks at a club and Abelard accepts (Díaz 233). While at
his car and preparing to leave, Abelard drunkenly opens his car trunk and jokes, “Nope,
no bodies here, Trujillo must have cleaned them out for me” (Díaz 235). Such a statement
and a powerful, evil dictatorship do not mix well. Hit-and-run quotation “Not four weeks
after the [incident], Dr. Abelard Luis Cabral was arrested by the Secret Police. The
charge? ‘Slander and gross calumny against the Person of the President” (Díaz 233). How
could have Trujillo known about this comment? Most likely, those “buddies” of Abelard
had loyalties to Trujillo and felt their lives were at stake if they did not say something
(Díaz 233). With this scene, Díaz illustrates how dictators gain so much support. Good
analysis Trujillo had infinite power by implanting so much fear in his people that some
began to worship him as a god out of fear that Trujillo could determine the fate of anyone
just as a god is able to do. This causes people to become fanatics of the dictators and live
their lives as the dictator would want them to, even when the dictator does not verbally or
physically demand anything.
Díaz continues to portray Trujillo as a villain that used his uncanny ability to
captivate. His public captivation allowed him to influence others and impose his beliefs
on the country, which consisted of promoting and continuing discrimination and
devaluing individuality. Trujillo imposed the already prevalent belief onto himself that
lighter-skinned Dominicans were favored more than dark-skinned Dominicans. Díaz’s
first footnote illustrates Trujillo as a “portly, sadistic, pig-eyed mulato who bleached his
skin, [and who] wore platform shoes” (2). The fact that Trujillo bleached his skin shows
how the racist attitude against dark-skinned Dominicans and dark-skinned people in
general transmitted to even the upmost of leaders. Since Trujillo had an ability to coerce
the public to believe in certain ideas, the simple image of a light-skinned Trujillo
persuaded the public to accept the stereotype, that lighter-skinned individuals were better
or preferred, as the truth. However, Díaz undermines Trujillo’s proud identity with the
words “portly” and “pig-eyed” in his first footnote (2). These words relay the description
that Trujillo is overweight and disgusting. Instead of being characterized as big and
strong, Trujillo earns the portrayal of an overweight, aggressive individual that does not
have a set of goals in mind to better the country; he is simply overly indulgent in himself,
hence the overweight appearance. Just like how people eat food to satisfy themselves,
Trujillo’s obesity symbolizes his egotistical ways and self-preoccupation. Yes, the
narrator’s attempt to knock Trujillo off his pedestal really come to the forefront in that
first footnote
Most importantly, Díaz tries to convey the almost supernatural aspect of Trujillo
that makes him appear as a superhuman villain. The start of Section II begins with a
statement by La Nación, “Men are not indispensible. But Trujillo is irreplaceable. For
Trujillo is not a man. He is…a cosmic force. … Those who try to compare him to his
ordinary contemporaries are mistaken. He belongs to … the category of those born to a
special destiny” (Díaz 204). This statement by La Nación, reveals the tremendous effect
Trujillo had on the country. La Nación describes people as “not indispensable” or
unimportant; however, it labels Trujillo as unique and “irreplaceable” (Díaz 204).
However, to the sufferers of his reign, Trujillo was not a human being; he was a whole
other species or a force that just haunted and paralyzed the country. The people of the
Dominican Republic could not rebel against the infamous Trujillo. He may have not been
physically strong, but he definitely gained support from the Dominican Republic by
inducing fear and authority over its people.
The fukú curse is a fantastical superstition that is not supported by science, but is
strongly believed by the Dominicans; similarly, Trujillo is a mystical figure that does not
have credibility to be a leader, but somehow gains massive support. The La Nación
statement that he is “born to a special destiny” places Trujillo in the same light as the
fukú (Díaz 204). The fukú, “generally a curse or a doom of some kind,” essentially
unleashes bad luck on all of the Dominican Republic and whoever messes with the
country (Díaz 1). The narrator states that “[n]o one knows whether Trujillo was the
[fukú] Curse’s servant or its master, its agent or its principal, but it was clear he and it
had an understanding, that them two was tight” (Diaz 2-3). This statement reveals that
Trujillo and the curse are intertwined, both shed their wrath on the Dominican Republic
and both are essentially unavoidable. Díaz explains that the curse has a special origin
dating back to the discovering of the New World by Christopher Columbus, which
unleashed the fukú and its special mission: to haunt and ruin lives. Trujillo impacts the
country in the same way; he haunts people without even being in their presence and
definitely ruins the lives of any person who speaks out against him or who does not
match his idea of an acceptable Dominican human being. Analyzing Trujillo’s reign
brings about the idea that Trujillo is an extension of the wrath and exploitation of the
Dominican Republic since his rule seems to be fueled by the mysterious, overwhelming
power of the fukú curse. Yes, by linking the supernatural fuku and its origins in the
island’s original conquest with Trujillo’s seemingly supernatural powers & tyranny, the
narrator suggests that Trujillo and the fuku evolve out of and carry on the legacy of the
island’s conquest.
Through the fictitious novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz
uses Yunior de Las Casas (where did you find his last name?) as the only narrator to
symbolize the idea that “[i]n dictatorship, only one person is really allowed to speak”
(O’Rourke). With Yunior as the narrator, Díaz implies the “dangers [that arise from] the
single voice;” the danger consists of grasping the idea of one person’s opinion and
accepting that one opinion as the truth (O’Rourke). While reading this novel, we
understand a story that is told from Yunior’s perspective and ultimately accept his
storytelling as the truth of the de Leon family. However, how can we truly believe Yunior
when Oscar only met Yunior in college? This makes Yunior an unreliable narrator due to
his short presence in the de Leon family’s life. Moreover, Díaz discloses that “when [he
writes] a book or a story, [he] to [is] the only one speaking, no matter how [he hides]
behind [his] characters” (O’Rourke). This thought suggests that Díaz may be playing the
role of a dictator by implementing his beliefs on the readers through his literature.
Nevertheless, Díaz probably takes more of the role of a “jester, contesting the
proclamations of the king” (O’Rourke). Díaz utilizes his literature as a way to denounce
and demythologize Trujillo; ultimately, Junot Díaz provides a voice for the victims that
were silenced under Trujillo’s reign. Excellent analysis!
Jessica,
This is an outstanding paper that offers the reader so many engaging ideas and
observations. The essay effectively explores how the novel demythologizes Trujillo by
analyzing the ways in which Diaz criticizes the dictator through his description and by
linking his rule with a curse. There is not much I can recommend to strengthen it beyond
correcting surface level issues and clarifying a few vague phrases. Just one note, I know
you’ve been struggling to make your conclusions stronger all semester, and here, you’ve
got an excellent conclusion. You move from your discussion of the Yunior’s perspective
dominating the narration to Diaz’s own admission that he plays a dictatorial role similar
to Yunior’s because as the writer, his perspective is shaping the story. Then, you question
and extend Diaz’s own assertion here by positing the idea that he might be “the court
jester”—while there’s some truth to his statement, he’s still playing around with the
audience in a sense, perhaps? Yet, despite his role as the jester, you see him ultimately
providing a voice to the victims of Trujillo’s rule. This demonstrates a keen analysis—
you question Diaz’s own assertions by reading what he does in his writing. Well done!
A
WORKS CITED
Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao . New York: Pen guin
Group, 2007. 335. Print.
O'Rourke, Meghan. "Questions for Junot Diaz." Slate. 08 Apr 2008. Slate,
Web. 3 Dec 2009. <http://www.slate.com>.