We are left with just "Oscar --" and I think that the silence is infinite. To me, this "Oscar" is a direct address from Yunior to Oscar, like he is about to say everything he has wanted to say, or like Yunior is going to share some private words to settle Oscar during his time of death. I almost think Yunior is reprimanding Oscar, for answering his killers in this below passage:
"Listen, we'll let you go if you tell us what fuego means in English.
Fire, he blurted out, unable to help himself." (322)
Is this "Oscar --" one last reprimand from Yunior? Like a, "man, Oscar, if you had just kept your cool, maybe you would have lived" ? Or does Yunior simply pity Oscar? I don't think we have enough evidence to make a real decision here.
Whatever is going on here in the blank space is private between Yunior and Oscar. The narration is interrupted, but in the same style of the "paginas blancas" that has followed through the novel. Diaz leaves us again to hypothesize.
Eileen, I found it interesting that you brought this up this morning in the discussion. When I originally read Oscar's name after he is killed, for example, I read it as almost a memoir. Almost as, "Oscar--" (Oh, no, not Oscar...). I am, also, unsure what to make of this textual utilization of Oscar's name. I also like how you are reading it as well.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked this part of our discussion today! I cannot help but make the connection to the first time we see Yunior reference Oscar in this way. To me I read it as a space where there was so much that should be said, or needed to be said, but simply could not be said. I also interpreted as a space for utter detestation for Yuinor, almost as if he was letting us experience his grief over the loss of his friend. We do not need to get all of the details, or read about how each individual person reacted to Oscar's murder, because it was too personal for the characters. We are given enough of an understanding, albeit a mere glimpse, into the significance of losing Oscar because it goes without saying that grief is a universal experience. It reminds me when Victor Frankenstein recounts the death of his mother by saying, "I need not describe the feelings of those whose dearest ties are rent by that most irreparable evil, the void that presents itself to the soul, and the despair that is exhibited on the countenance” (Shelley 72). To me that is how Yunior felt, what he was alluding to at the end of Oscar's life.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and comments here, ladies!
ReplyDelete