Let’s Talk about Oscar and Lola

Although The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is fiction, I find myself feeling so sympathetic towards Oscar and Lola. I feel closest to Oscar and Lola in the scene that they are talking on the phone, I feel like I’m on the third phone line. Díaz writes, “‘Lola. He was so quiet, and then I realized he was crying. Where are you?’ You don’t want to know. I switched ears, trying to keep my voice casual” (67). When Lola tries to “keep [her] voice casual” because she too is on the brink of tears, it becomes so obvious that these kids are dealing with adult situations and trying to handle them like adults. I think we begin to forget how young Lola really is when she runs away to be with Aldo. She seems like a young adult, because she’s use to dealing with adult situations which are the results of her mother’s parenting deficiency. I can’t help but wonder what is happening to Oscar and what he is going through when Lola leaves the house. I also can’t imagine how Lola feels when she makes the decision to leave Oscar behind when she lives with Aldo. However, I think she realizes that in order to live a healthy life, she needs to do whatever it takes to escape her mother’s household. Since living with Aldo doesn’t seem to work out, I wonder how Lola’s decision to live with her grandmother will pan out. Did you guys also find yourselves sympathetic towards Oscar and Lola? Do you think Lola living with her grandmother will work? Will Oscar also have to escape?