Essay Outline

Thesis: Comparing and contrasting Oscar Wao in “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by
Junot Diaz and Holden Caulifield in “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger reveals their
shared experiences of depression and struggles with their identity, while their different narrative
style and purposes shows how different people navigate parallel challenges.

Paragraph 1: The introduction

● The characters in “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz and “The
Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger are similar and different in ways that include the
conflict, style and purpose.
● Oscar and Holden are being compared and contrasted.
● The purpose of comparing Oscar and Holden is to explore how different characters
navigate similar themes like identity and struggle.
○ Deepens our understanding of Oscar and Holden, the themes they represent and
their human experience.
○ Allows us to see how different individuals navigate similar challenges and how
their experiences shape their journeys.
Paragraph 2: First support paragraph - Conflict
● Both characters deal with depression
○ Oscar being rejected led to him getting depressed
○ Holden was constantly always talking about how he was depressed.
● Both struggle with their identity
○ Oscar struggles with his Dominican Heritage and his love for science fiction.
○ Holden struggles with the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Paragraph 3: Second support paragraph - Style
4
● Readers can relate more to the writing style of The Catcher in the Rye.
● Holden narrated his own life while Yunior, Oscar’s roommate, narrated Oscar’s life.
● Yunior narrated in more of a story telling way, in a third person perspective on Oscar’s
life. Holden’s narration is in a first person perspective, coming from Holden’s own voice.
Paragraph 4: Third support paragraph - Purpose
● Holden keeps trying to connect with others due to how lonely he was.
● Holden wants to stay innocent in a world full of phonies and doesn’t want to lose his
childhood. He wants to preserve the purity of his childhood and protect others, like his
sister Phoebe, from the harsh realities he perceives.
● Oscar’s purpose is to break free from the fuku, a curse that haunted his family for
generations. He wanted love despite his own challenges.
Paragraph 5: Conclusion
● Altogether, Oscar and Holden have a lot of similarities and differences that tie them
together.
 The Brief Wondrous Catcher Essay Draft
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is about the life of a
Dominican-American named Oscar de Leon. It revolves around Oscar’s unrequited love towards
various women in his life, particularly his feelings towards Ybon. Oscar blames the fuku, a curse
that has haunted his family for generations, for the cause of his bad luck. After warning Oscar
not to come back to Santo Domingo, the Capitan (Ybon’s abusive husband) found out about
Oscar and Ybon and shot him in a cane field. The novel ends with Yunior (Oscar’s roommate),
Lola (Oscar’s sister), and Beli (Oscar’s mother) mourning Oscar’s death. His mother also
tragically died at the end due to cancer. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is about Holden
figuring out his journey into adulthood. Holden failed four out of five of his classes at Pencey
Prep school and got expelled. While on his journey back home, Holden kept stating that he was
depressed and felt lonely, so due to this, he kept trying to connect with everyone he met. The
novel ends up with Holden going through treatment in a mental hospital. Junot Diaz’s novel, The
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and J. D. Salinger’s novel, Catcher in the Rye, both contain
the struggle with loneliness. However, each author expresses this in various ways with different
reasons.
Both Diaz and Salinger urge readers to reflect on mental health as they depict Oscar and
Holden dealing with depression. Starting with Oscar, his rejection from the SAT prep girl, Ana,
made him depressed due to her being his first real crush and the fact that he invested a lot of his
time and emotion into pursuing her. As they were having a conversation she stated that she
forgot how big Manny’s cock was and this broke Oscar’s heart. He was so angry he even
considered killing Manny. When Ana came to Oscar’s house after Manny had beaten her he
suggested she break up with him but she stated, “I know I should, but I can’t. I love him.” (Diaz
44). Ana claims that she can’t leave her abusive ex boyfriend, Manny because she loves him.
Oscar felt betrayed and humiliated by Ana because she led him on. This betrayer led Oscar to
getting depression. Holden was constantly always talking about how he was depressed
throughout the novel. His depression is connected to the death of his younger brother, Allie, who
died of Leukemia. His brother’s death created loneliness in his life that no one else can fill. He
had been going around New York all alone, trying to avoid going home. He felt isolated but also
glad as he mentioned that he “did not see one person the whole time” he was in the park. As he
was sitting on a bench by the lake, he thought to himself, “I thought I’d get pneumonia and die. I
started…my funeral and all.” (Salinger 171). The quote best reveals his struggle with depression
as he thinks of his own death and funeral which can lead to a depressive state. Salinger uses this
quote as a way to urge readers to reflect on mental health. The imagery in Holden’s thoughts
shows the effects of depression and what it can lead someone to think about. The words used in
the quote like “hunks of ice” and thinking he “was going to die” reveals Holden’s mental state,
supporting the idea that Salinger wanted to bring attention to the importance of addressing
mental health issues. Both Salinger and Diaz, through their characters, Oscar and Holden,
showed the struggles people face with mental health due to loneliness being a cause.
Diaz and Salinger depicts struggling with the complexities of identities in different ways.
Oscar struggles with his cultural identity due to his love for science fiction which does not align
with societal expectations. Oscar’s struggles with cultural identity impacts his relationships and
interactions with others. This was shown through Yunior’s description of Oscar after he
graduated and started subbing at Don Bosco. Yunior, the narrator stated “These boys fled from
him in terror. In a burst of enthusiasm he attempted to start a science fiction and fantasy
club….after thirty minutes of nothing he collected his books, locked the room, and walked down
those same halls, alone, his footsteps sounding strangely dainty.” (Diaz 265). The mention of the
boys fleeing from him in terror was used to express Oscar's isolation and the loneliness he
experiences as a result of his interests. His enthusiasm for science fiction and fantasy that are not
really related to his culture leads to alienation, as symbolized by the boys fleeing from him. This
quote shows how Yunior uses vivid descriptions and metaphors to show Oscar’s struggle with his
cultural identity, and how this struggle impacts his mental health and relationship with others.
Holden struggles with his identity as he progresses into adulthood due to not wanting to leave
behind his childhood. As Phoebe and Holden were having a conversation, she [Phoebe] wanted
to know what Holden would like to be. She questions, “Name something you’d like to be…”
(Salinger 190). In this quote, Phoebe tells Holden to say what he would like to be and he wasn’t
sure. It took him about a while to be able to answer that question. This shows that Holden is
uncertain about what he wants to be in the future. Holden not wanting to grow up contributes to
his feelings of depression. Holden is unaware of what he wants to be which shows how lost he is
and this can be isolating. His depression can also be connected to his loss of innocence and
journey into the adult world. By the end of the novel, Holden shows signs of maturity as he
mentions that we should let kids do what they want to do and not say anything, indicating a
possible acceptance of growing up. This shows that Holden realizes the need to grow up and
accepts it. Salinger uses Holden’s conversation with Phoebe to explore themes of identity and
depression. In comparing both Oscar and Holden, Diaz and Salinger skillfully showed the
complexity of identity struggles leading to loneliness and how the two characters are shaped by
different and/or unique experiences.
Salinger and Diaz portray Oscar and Holden as having completely different and
unrelatable purposes that connect to their feeling of isolation. Holden wants to stay innocent in a
world full of phonies while Oscar wants to break free from the fuku, a curse that has haunted his
family for generations. Oscar returned to the Dominican Republic, a place that is heavily
connected with the fuku curse. He is in a state of deep despair and loneliness, feeling the weight
of the curse and his love for Ybon, a former prostitute. Yunior stated “Fukú. The Darkness. Some
mornings he would wake up and not be able to get out of bed. Like he had a ten-ton weight on
his chest. Like he was under acceleration forces. Would have been funny if it didn’t hurt his heart
so.” (Diaz 268). This quote illustrates Oscar’s emotional state. The term “Fuku” and “The
Darkness” symbolizes the curse being linked to his depression. The metaphor of a “ten-ton
weight” on his chest and being under “acceleration forces” shows the heavy burden of his
feelings and the intensity of his depression. This quote shows Oscar’s purpose is to break free
from the fuku as it mentions the negative effects the curse brings into his life. His depression is a
result of the fuku, creating a cycle of despair around him that he wants to break free from.
Holden is having a conversation with Phoebe. He was expelled from school and is struggling
with his feelings of alienation with the adult world, which he sees as phony. He wants to preserve
the purity of his childhood and protect others, like his sister Phoebe. When Phoebe asked what
Holden wanted to be, he stated, “I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff…be
the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be. I
know it’s crazy.” (Salinger 191). This reveals that Holden wants to be the “catcher in the rye”
and prevent children from falling into the complexities of adulthood. The metaphor of being the
“catcher in the rye” symbolizes his wish to protect children from falling off a cliff, which
represents the loss of innocence and the transition to the adult world. This shows how he wants
to maintain not just his own innocence but of others too. Holden admitting that his dream is
crazy reflects on his awareness of his isolation. He knows that his desire to protect others,
including himself, is unrealistic but it is the only purpose in life that he finds meaningful.
Salinger portrays Holden as someone who wants to preserve innocence and avoid the phonies of
the world, which might contribute to his feeling of isolation. While Oscar and Holden are driven
by different purposes, both characters struggle with isolation.
In conclusion, both Junot Diaz’s novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” and J.D.
Salinger’s novel, “Catcher in the Rye” talks about how isolation can impact one’s mental health.
These were shown through various ways starting with depression to the struggle with identity
and trying to find purpose in life. Although these two novels show different ways isolation can
affect one’s mental health, they both show how the struggles are the same in a way that we can
relate to one way or the other. Incorporating the themes of isolation and depression into the
novels allows readers to reflect on mental health issues. Diaz and Salinger created a novel that is
completely different but alike in a certain way.