From Balaguer to Beli

              Much of this novel is concerned with how power flows between the characters. From Balaguer to Trujillo to even Beli, the reader observes characters obsessed with gaining and keeping power, on any scale. But what we have yet to see is a character who can be perfectly responsible with it, in fact the story’s protagonist, and the character the reader is most obviously supposed to sympathize with, Oscar Wao, is probably the most powerless character in the book. All of these characterizations serve to demonstrate that those with power are bound to abuse it.

              Within the first few pages, Diaz is already protesting against the system he sees as being completely responsible for these character’s misfortune. Diaz begins by denouncing the major players, the international criminals (according to Diaz) that the world is already familiar with (or about to become familiar with via Diaz): the European Colonials (1), The American CIA (3), JFK (3), LBJ (4), Trujillo (5), or Balaguer. But then Diaz goes on to detail the lives of the characters and show how abuses of power and its effect on other people are not just limited to governmental or bureaucratic institutions. Oscar’s first love triangle between him, Marizta, and Olga illustrates a complex dynamic that none of them know how to properly handle. It appears at first that Oscar possesses the most power in this dynamic, mostly because he is the only male, but Marizta successfully manipulates him into breaking both Olga’s heart and his own. This theme continues into Oscar’s adolescence. And as anyone can tell you, nowhere in the world, in all the governments and international political bodies, is this power complex more severe than in middle school. The tiered system that Diaz describes illustrates the sociopathic desire middle schoolers have to be popular, which is simply a euphemism for power. And Diaz’s characterization make clear that this attitude is no more acceptable in middle school than it is in the White House, but it is nevertheless an aspect of human society that he seeks to critique.

              Both of Beli’s love interests in the DR were both men of immense power. Perhaps Diaz is pointing out that part of what makes the idea of power so dangerous is that those who possess it, despite whatever terrible actions they commit, also then possess an undeniable attractiveness that in some ways may be used to justify their deeds.

To further prove that the quest for power will ultimately result in abuse, Diaz shows how threats to a person’s power, which will always be perceived, will only result in a person tightening their grip. In Lola’s chapter, it seems that the mother is a deranged character intent on oppressing her children, but during Beli’s chapter the reader witnesses a terrifying moment where it would be impossible to judge Beli as a mother the same way afterwards. The reader observes that the humiliation that Beli experienced during the attack scars her and in many ways makes her far more insecure. Firstly, she realizes that she cannot hope to share in her pujol’s or the gangster’s power simply by sleeping with them. Because of this she must seek power on her own. Secondly, the attack makes her immensely insecure, because of the dignity she thinks that she has lost. Even more significant, is that this is also the night that Trujillo has finally perished, but his supporters, just like Beli, will seek to recover that power at any cost, “Trujillo was too powerful, too toxic a radiation to be dispelled so easily” (156).

              Diaz contrasts the power dynamics of the Dominican and American governments with those of the Dominican and American people to show that no matter where power or who possesses it, it is bound to corrupt.