Dominican experiences here in the United States of America (“United States”) have a uniqueness to it just like every other culture, race, ethnicity, etc. that has migrated here. According to the United States 2010 Census, there are over 1,400,000 Dominicans living in the United States. Junot Diaz’ book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao allows readers into the life of a typical Dominican. It is through this book that we are introduced to the Dominican culture and traditions as a family who migrates from the Dominican Republican establish an identity in the United States while still keeping ties to the island. When viewing two aspects of the Dominican experiences as shown in this novel, I will specially focus on the idea of Dominican masculinity and the importance of it as well as the undeniable rivalry between Dominicans and Puerto Ricans and the effects it has on the youth. Chapter one, GhettoNerd at the End of the World, from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, introduces the readers to the protagonist of the novel, Oscar. Right off the bat, the narrator explains that the book doesn’t revolve around “one of those Dominician[s]”. Instead, he introduces Oscar as a “Casanova” who had a few lucky days with women as a child. We quickly learn that while Oscar was seven, he had two girlfriends during the same time of which both lasted roughly a week. Those girls, Maritza Chacon and Olga Polanco, dominate the story during the first chapter. Because we are introduced to this love triangle immediately, we are to assume that finding “love” or the equivalent to it, is something that is valuable in the Dominican culture. The narrator places a great deal of emphasis that it was “normal” and “typical” for a young Dominican boy to be “trying to kiss the girls”. What initially seemed harmless quickly turned uncomfortable when it was described that Oscar would be the typical Dominican boy who gave girls “pelvic