In the "Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  there are distinct differences in race and gender roles in the Dominican Republic. Men are portrayed as players. They sleep with many women, are aggressive, and being unfaithful wasn't uncommon either. This was the way they show their masculinity, and followed Oscar Wao from his homeland in the Dominican Republic to Patterson, New Jersey where he was raised. Masculinity and these characteristics of Dominican men were a common theme throughout this novel. Oscar Wao's portal of masculinity was quite different from the norm; at the young age of seven he was something of a Casanova by having his first and only ménage a trois, his golden year. The years following he was known as the nerd boy, continuously falling in love with girls he would never be able to have. It took a couple good beatings and the lost of his life for him to prove this masculinity to everyone, the norms of masculinity in his culture are essentially what killed Oscar. Oscar was born in New Jersey and is a Dominican male, because of this fact there are many things that are expected of him. He is expected to go out on the town, be a womanizer, be aggressive and willing to go after what he wants. However, Oscar just isn't any of these things, and feels pressure from his friends and family to be something that he's not. Throughout the book he is in a constant state of depression, throwing himself in to comic books, fantasy movies and his writing, which he loves, the most. The start of Oscar Waos life was just as any other Dominican boy, he was something of a little pimp, which was encouraged by friends and family. Any chance he had to kiss or flirt with a girl he would take even when all other boys his age avoided girls. He sounded just like a typical Dominican boy, which at this time he was. The only problem was that he lacked a male figure in his life; he had no one to display the Dominican masculinity roll to him. The only male figure in his life was his uncle, and he was in and out of jail throughout most of Oscar's life. This missing piece is what threw him in and out of his depressions and into a life of fantasy. After puberty hit Oscar's appearance changed drastically, he no longer chased after girls. He had become an over weight freak, and women simply were no longer attracted to him. At school and at home he didn't feel like he belonged, he completely lacked a social life. All through high school this was his life, he continuously gained weight, which was also a leading factor in his depression. Oscar's has only two friends, Miggs and Al, and has otherwise completely secluded himself from all other people his age. When they land themselves girlfriends toward the end of their senior year, he soon finds out that his only friends are embarrassed of his appearance, and wouldn't participate in helping him to find a girlfriend.