Essay Sample on Wildwood: Exploring a Mother-Daughter Love Relationship

Introduction

The excerpt Wildwood, by Junot Diaz, portrays a theme, mother-daughter love relationship. The author tells a story of Lora and her mother Beli, who are always in conflict. Lora is a young girl, living in New York City with her mother and brother (Casielles-Suarez 476). However, her mother is abuse something that kills Lora's love and sympathy. Both characters have similar features, for instance, they are both wild, beautiful, full of anger, and independent. To some extent, these are the traits that make them clash. Beli always disregards and rejects Lora. Junot Diaz asserts that the conflict between mother and daughter emanates from unrealistic aspirations and fear that the daughter will repeat her mother's mistakes.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The chapter begins by introducing the concept, change (Diaz n.p). Lola is the only character who could speak in her voice throughout the book. She describes a defining moment in her life that helps the reader to see that she wanted to change. Veeralakshmi highlights that Lola remembers a moment when she was trying to find a numb in her mother's breast (477). Her mother was always traumatic something that brought the conflict in the family. Lola in her mind had a feeling that something bad might happen. Since she is growing, she is always ready to clash with her mother; this is because she knows that one day she might be a victim of the family curse. Lora refuses to be the perfect Dominican girl (Diaz'novel n.p). For the fact that she knows that her mother has breast cancer, she rebels against her orders. She knows that her mother has no energy to beat her. She even takes a stand of burning her mother's wig.

Lola's story also takes the reader back in time by explaining the events that led her to burn her mother's wig. The story portrays the kind of conflict that is experienced between the first and second generation of immigrants in the United States of America (Diaz n.p). Lora perfectly describes her relationship with her mother as straining. She says her mother's old rules are suffocating and they are old fashioned. She wants to stay with her light-skinned friend Karen who her mother is against everything she does because she does not want her to make the same mistakes she made while she was a teenager. Lola does not comply with her mother's instruction (Veeralakshmi 479). She fights back, disrespecting her mother's wishes. Her mother lost her hair after a chemo treatment something that led her to start wearing a wig, which Lola burnt. Lora rejects the standards of her mother. Lora is a rebellion against the mainstream culture of her mother for the fact that she even slaps her mother when she tries to hit her back.

It is clear that Lola does not recognize all the sacrifices her mother has done to take her, and Oscar his brother in the United States (Diaz n.p). Her mother tells her a censored version of the story since she does not want her to suffer in the future. Lora is grateful for what her mother sacrificed and promises that she will be a good daughter. However, her mother is dictatorial and this makes Lola resent her staying in the house. Lola wants to protect her own personality and be assimilated into the American culture. Since she has been fading up staying with her mother, she runs away to her 19-year-old latest boyfriend, Aldo (Gale n.p). The boyfriend (white boy), lives with his elderly dad in Wildwood. He has asked Lola to move in with them; when Lola insults her mother, she agrees to move in with the boyfriend and loses her virginity to Aldo.

Life with Aldo was worse and miserable (Gale n.p). Aldo's father ensures that Lola is not welcome; they are always fighting. Lola gets a job of fries, which she loses after a short period. She cannot improve her life by adopting a fake whiteness. She now depends on her boyfriend who works with his father in a garage. Lola is, at the same time, about her family since she misses Oscar (Casielles-Suarez 480). She is worried that he will be skinny since there is no one to cook for him. She is ready to leave for her family and she is proud to say that she made a mistake of abandoning her family. Aldo begins to make racist comments, which are worse to hear but easier to avoid. Lola calls her brother Oscar, meets with him at the restaurant and at this moment she is surprised because Oscar is even fatter. However, their mother ambushes them and meets Lola. Lola has sympathy for the dying woman. She returns to her old Dominican life and now she feels half identity. She meets a new boyfriend Max, who desires to live a fantasy life of America other than facing the reality (Casielles-Suarez 486). As the chapter ends, the strange feelings start to disturb Lola something that affects her sleep and track performance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the conflict between Lola and her mother Beli stems from the fear not to repeat similar mistakes. Both characters had similar characteristics, which are clear. Therefore, despite the clashing moments within their family, Lola tries to prevent her mother's bitterness. There is also an aspect of cursed feelings, which are associated with Lola; they disappear when she stands boldly to make the mistakes she had been warned of by her mother (Diaz'novel n.p). She also learns more about her family hence denoting that a family curse only stems from lack of information about one's heritage and identity. Throughout the chapter, Lola is prepared to learn more about her mother and her family. While the novel explicates the mother-daughter relationship, it is primarily concerned with love. The excerpt focuses on love and it denotes that the worth of love is well shown by the pain of loss. The beauty of this is seen when Lola and her mother experienced conflicts but despite the changes, their love is also seen at the end of the chapter. Throughout their life, Lola tries to learn more about her family.

Works Cited

Casillas-Suarez, Eugenia. "Radical Code-switching in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 90.4 (2013): 475-487.

Diaz, Junot. "Wildwood: Teenage Dominican runaway." The New Yorker. 2007. Retrieved from: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/06/11/wildwood

Diaz'novel, Junot. "Charles W. Scheel." Callaloo 33 (2010): 498-520.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2015.

Veeralakshmi, S. "The great Dominican diaspora and multiculturalism in the selected works of Junot Diaz." (2017). Retrieved from: http://ir.inflibnet.ac.in:8080/jspui/bitstream/10603/203112/14/14_annexture.pdf