Freud and Foucault on Power Dynamics in Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, on October 24, 1891. He was the third of 11 children. (Murray 171).

Seizing Control of the Dominican Republic

After completing his elementary schooling, he joined a local telegraph company where he served as an operator before moving on to become a guard at a sugar plantation. After commanding the national army as commander in chief beginning in 1927, he would finally seize control of the Dominican Republic in 1930. His training with the US Marines had started in 1918, and by then, he had earned the rank of General Rafael Trujillo. Even though Trujillo had a reputable legacy about the efforts he made to successfully improve the economy of his country and reduce foreign debt, it still remains a disturbing factor in his leadership, which hitherto was characterized with heinous killings and gross infringement of human rights, an occurrence that led to the murders of tens of thousands of civilians without the intervention of the international community (Roorda 302).

The Massacre of Haitian Civilians

Nevertheless, his abuse of power was realized in 1937, when over 20 thousand Haitian civilians were killed under his orchestration, and the situation would only escalate following his failed plans to assassinate Romulo Betancourt, the then Venezuelan President in the year 1960, a factor that compelled the Organization of American States to explicitly agree to terminate diplomatic relations with the administration of brutal dictator in the person of Trujillo (Murray 170). However, the unprecedented actions of Trujillo prompted the orchestration of his sudden death when the rebels killed him after planning for long to topple his regime.

Trujillo’s Consolidation of Power

Trujillo was a sophisticated army commander, who cleverly made his way to the center of power in a steady and formidable manner and later redefined his reign as of absolute power. In 1930, the Dominican Republic faced a threat to its political stability following the attempted overthrow of Horacio Vasquez, the then president, whose ill fate was planned by his counterpart, the Venezuelan president, Rafael Estrella Urena, and his allied rebels. Nevertheless, since Trujillo had some vested interest in power and had hidden foreign plans with President Rafael Estrella Urena, he remained neutral when the rebels invaded (Roorda 315). Consequently, President Horacio Vasquez was forced into exile because he lacked the support of his home army. The era of Trujillo would later gain root when he chose to eliminate his political competitors and won the presidential bid unopposed, following the onset of a scramble for power since the presidential office was unoccupied. It was unfortunate that immediately after Trujillo assumed his duties, more than 2000 people were killed by the hurricane. Furthermore, the Santo Domingo city was reduced to isolated ghettos. Trujillo responded to the natural disaster with immediate effects by effecting martial law in the country, and once the city was entirely rebuilt, he renamed it in his honor, which from then was referred to as Cuidad Trujillo. Moreover, tens of hundreds of streets were renamed and statues built as well as natural features and social amenities changed to resemble the naming of the new regime (Roorda 310). The general living of the Dominican people was reputed to the thorough leadership of Trujillo, which was characterized by the many new schools, roads, hospitals, improved sanitation as well as the improved economy. Nevertheless, his monopolizing of the vast industries, which were very lucrative across the country, benefited his family members, the military personnel as well as his friends at the expense of the majority people.

Continuing Dictatorship and Assassination

Even though Trujillo technically ceded power and endorsed the presidency when Joaquin Balaguer was installed by him in 1960, just immediately after his brother Hector had reigned under his will, but not the will of the people since 1952 to 1957, in the real sense, Trujillo continued with his brutal regime for 31 years in the Dominican Republic. Trujillo had put in place the secret police service, which did a lot to retain his power at the expense of the freedom of the civilians. For instance, his undercover police officers had the capacity, with the power given from the president, to censor the press, torture, expel, threaten the dissenters of his regime as well as orchestrate suicides and accidents for those opposed to his dictatorial leadership. Before 1936, there was no clear border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Consequently, confrontations were inevitable, even though they were too trivial to cause international concern. Nevertheless, Trujillo came up with anti-Haitian sentiments and claimed that the latter were stealing from their Dominican Republic counterparts’ essential property like farm produce and cattle. Consequently, there was the mounting pressure that had not been justified by evidenced-based reasoning, and President Trujillo ordered the massacre of over 20 thousand Haitians across the border in 1937 (Wolff 347). Even though $525,000 would later be paid by Trujillo as a fine, the paltry did not show any severe punishment meted against his administration. It was then in history that the dictatorial leadership of Trujillo had hit its extremes and foreign powers intervened in vain because he had gained root in authority and created systems of committing public crimes in a cruel and unquestionable manner throughout the Dominican Republic. Trujillo would later be assassinated on his way home in 1961 when the diplomacy of the international community turned against him, and some members of his military became rebels (Wolff 347).

Power, Capitalism, and Dictatorship

About the dictatorial reign of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Díaz answers the question of how power and capitalism are used to wield influence and injustices in society by applying the panoptic principles. The themes of masculinity, nerd genres as well as dictatorship are core elements discussed by the author in the novel (Boyden and Goethals 25). ‘Fukú Americanus’ is described by the author as forms of injustices caused by the colonial masters, and they were later incorporated into the habits of the natives to perpetrate the evils of murder, torture, and capitalism among the natives in the new world. In this regard, Michael Foucault expresses a lot of ethical and social theories in his Discipline and Punish hypothesis, which are critical arguments that suffice in giving a literary comprehension of the similar themes in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Díaz.

Interpellation, Representation of Power, and Capitalism

The aspects of interpellation, representation of power, as well as non-emancipatory structures and the role capitalism plays therein emerge as critical features in the definition of the theme ‘Fukú Americans’ by Díaz in his The Brief Wondrous Life. Post-colonial influence is presented as one of the most powerful mechanisms that manipulate the social, cultural, political, as well as the traditional elements that reflect in how power is projected to the new world (Boyden and Goethals 28). Consequently, in his work, Wao defines fukú as the doom, whose evil is widely prevalent in the new world. On the other hand, Díaz, in one of his characters, attributed fukú to the acts of rape and capitalism that were perpetrated by post-colonialism. Similarly, based on how the Foucaultian principles of panopticism are projected, they come in handy to give a vivid description of how the legacy of capitalism and rape have the ability to manipulate and influence power and atrocious human behavior in leadership.

The Spanish Influence and Panopticism

The author gives an explanation of the Spanish spread across the new world, and how they gained power, which would later be mirrored as pertinent to the local cultures in the Caribbean, especially in the present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti. All the power structures and the elements of capitalism that were put in place in the new world by the Hispanic influence, especially by putting in focus the leadership, projected in the likes of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, as echoed by Díaz. In the late 1900s, a peculiar prison was built by Jeremy Brant, and it was referred to as the panoptic. The building was unique in that it allowed the prison-guard on duty to view all the prisoners from a single point of view, and without any strain or movement. This was a psychologically connoted strategy because it was then very worrying for the prisoners, as they all knew that they were being watched at every single moment. The prisoners’ mental alignment was in perpetual modification to reflect the character, which was in accordance with the expected code of conduct as well as the automatic expectation of appropriate discipline without making away with the mistakes and criminal offenses committed on the floor of this highly revealing building. Indeed, all the prisoners behaved as though the guard was watching them at all times, an element that compelled them to act in a desirable and disciplined manner, hence living up to the expectations of the statutes that dictated the social environment in the very custody.

The Production of Power

According to Foucault, “power produces; it produces reality; it produces domains of objects and rituals of truth. The individual and the knowledge that may be gained by him belong to this production” (Bailey 193). This quote gives an understanding that rather than appealing to the acts of supplanting each other, there is a need to appreciate the mechanism that both the bi-political powers and the sovereign and repressive powers can coexist while everybody is embracing their autonomous trajectories of ascendancy, hence co-functioning. In the same vein, the principle of Foucault could come in handy and hence be used to redefine the contemporary society, which has characteristic phenomena not only in the political and social environments but also in the cultural and economic disciplines of diversity. In essence, it could be argued that just as it was during the time of Jeremy Brant, it is the case in the modern world as well because hierarchy, leadership positions, and human manipulation of character and behavior of others are inevitable (Mills 97). The panopticonic principle hence remains an uncompromised background of the human social relations and regulations; however, perhaps, it is the least talked of, except for how much role it plays in shaping up humanity. Indeed, in the 21st century, the world has seen much advancement in technology, some of which have resulted in the discovery of the most sophisticated cameras of the day and the Internet sites as well. Even the street lights on our roads connected to superior cameras in the traffic headquarters mean a lot about how people operate and interact with the rules meant to guide and offer direction on what should be done, where, how, and when. All these contemporary elements are apparently the most critical factors that compel people to note with their conscience that he or she is being watched at all times in one way or another, and that any action contrary to whatever is anticipated could attract punishment.

Critique of Panopticism

On the other hand, it has been criticized by scholarly and research-based evidence as to whether having the human person being watched at all times in the environment they thrive could have any changes in their behavior in the long run. Indeed, despite the knowledge in the public domain that people are being watched by the systems put in place to regulate behavior and character, it has never been reported that criminal offenses or cases that grossly flout the set rules have ceased. Rather, on every other day, reports show people committing heinous crimes in videos. Furthermore, others could go as far as videotaping themselves and posting the information on social media platforms so that the world could see the heightened degree of crime and how sophisticated the human person has become in devising rude ways of contravening the law (Mills 101). Therefore, as opposed to the typical conscience that being watched will reveal their crimes and attract punishment, they are overpowered and rather choose to post online for fame and recognition. In essence, it is ironic that the present world is occupied by a people who have turned the Panopticonic principle upside down and hence chose to deliver its meaning in irony, as rather than hiding their bad character that attracts punishment, they have chosen to exploit the same in the pretext of earning fame and recognition. The position of Foucault thus shows that under no rule is one convinced to believe that masculinity becomes more pronounced with violence and hypersexuality, rather aspects of creativity and social productivity as the forces that wield power as witnessed not only in the diaspora but also in the Dominican Republic.

Nation and the Individual

On the other hand, the question of the nation and the individual that is very critical in bringing on board the arguments in the novel and the Golden Rule of Freud is superimposed on the aspects of the questions like – what does magical realism bring to the story? What, if anything, does it take away? The magical realism compels the person of Díaz to highlight the story in a very supernatural manner. The hyperbole is very well posted to mirror the exact reflection of how Trujillo was a dictator that oppressed and killed the people of his country, the Dominican Republic. Furthermore, this allows the author to express what realism could not candidly expose in his arguments. Indeed, based on the Freudian Golden Rule, the errors the human person commits in life as exemplified in the western societies are typically what transpires in the life of Yunior in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. By arguing that every individual should “do unto others what one would want others to do unto oneself,” this is an implication in the moral sense on the basic platform that everybody in society has a place, and that the height of reason and integrity are founded on how people interact, socialize, and carry out their daily operations, whether in a friendly and cordial or repulsive and repressive manner (Wiarda 548). In the realms of the religious domain, Freudian arguments about the interaction of characters, and especially the position Yunior occupies in The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, become well-evidenced that pure selflessness and the basis of communal interactions are the most fundamental elements of reality.

Life in the Diaspora

Life in the diaspora from the perspective of the Dominican Republic is a critical viewpoint. The eyes of Yunior are essential elements of vision that the reader focuses on. The Dominican history and the American popular culture are characteristically analyzed, and when rated against the Freudian principle of psychosis, his mental stability is subject to a lot of traumatic distortions (Wiarda 550). On the contrary, Freud in his work of discontents talks extensively about the concept of civilization, wherein he argues that while people are confined to the new meaning of what life should be lived, others in the contemporary world still do enjoy the mundane means of achieving happiness and pleasure to make it in life. Therefore, by engaging the psychosexual elements of humanity and how the conscience regulates the manifested behavior and character, what Freud discusses critically reflects the Foucaultian elements of panoptic arguments. The elements of conflict, displacement as well as sexual theories are critical platforms that Freud puts in place for his arguments to thrive. Indeed, the phrase civilization and its discontents denote how much civilization has taken away from humanity. As much as people could value the essence of civilization, where human behavior has to be regulated, pleasure censored, character manipulated, and the rule of law imposed, Freud argues that more has been denied of the contemporary human person to enjoy full life (Chessick 386). Therefore, there are many discontents when it comes to achieving satisfaction and pleasure, contentment and freedom in the cycles of life like sexuality and pleasure. Freud talks about the aftermath of World War I. It is disgusting, and in most cases, people do not want to hear about the bitter events of the past. Nevertheless, the person of Freud in his quest to bring out the items of civilization, he chooses to expose all that makes history. It is true that the human character often chooses to forget and store subconsciously what has happened in a dreadful manner. Nevertheless, Freud utilizes this opportunity to bring back the memories and succinctly explains to derive an argument of what is very phenomenal to civilization (Chessick 389). Therefore, both love and death determine the human person’s life, whereby the former regulates relationships and romance, while the latter determines the termination of such relationships and the onset of strife. Indeed, according to Freud, the Golden Rule falls short of evidence and hence clenches, an imperfect notch, shy to his more realistic argument that psychoanalytic social psychology is the modest analogy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao teaches a lot about the aspects of power relations between people, human aggression, and civilization’s laws and punishments. Power is a factor that can change a person or people if reason, principle, and rationality are not embraced. It is evidenced from the scenarios in the novel that when one is oppressed with authority, he or she tends to manipulate the rule of law and falls into controversy with the natural aspects of culture, beliefs, traditions, and what is regarded as ethically upright. When a leader takes such a delicate dimension, it then becomes inevitable that power between people has two certain options, either to be constructive or destructive, whereby the latter is the most likely. On the contrary, human aggression is an element embodied in the personality of the human race. Indeed, every individual has the animal perspective of their being, and this influences to a large degree how people relate to and handle situations that trigger fury, emotions, and psychological distress. Depending on the prevailing circumstances, human aggression can be contained; however, if mitigating efforts are not well strategized, either internally by the affected individual or by the external social emanating forces, destruction is often characteristic, and the phenomenal harm could be outside of estimable proportions. Finally, from the novel, there is a lot that is attributed to the book about civilization’s laws and punishment. It is true that the rule of law should not be manipulated and influenced by those in power or individuals who are reputable social stature. Nevertheless, from the novel, it is evident that those in authority have the ability to expressly wield power and amass influence in their favor, which puts on the disadvantage the majority, who do not have political or military power in society.

Works Cited

Bailey, Michael. “Understanding Foucault.” Contemporary Political Theory 1.1 (2002): 119–120.

Boyden, Michael, and Patrick Goethals. ”Translating the Watcher’s Voice: Junot Díaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao into Spanish.” Meta 56.1 (2011): 20–41 ST–Translating the Watcher’s Voice: Junot.

Chessick, Richard D. ”Rereading Freud: Psychoanalysis Through Philosophy.” Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis & Dynamic Psychiatry 34.2 (2006): 383–385.

Mills, Sara. Michel Foucault. Vol. 14. Routledge, 2003. https://monoskop.org/images/3/34/Mills_Sara_Michel_Foucault_2003.pdf. Accessed June 4, 2017.

Murray, Gerald F. ”Foundations of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and Modernity in Dominican History.” American Anthropologist 107.1 (2005): 170–171.

Roorda, Eric Paul. ”Genocide Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy, the Trujillo Regime, and the Haitian Massacre of 1937.” Diplomatic History 20.3 (1996): 301–319.

Wiarda, Howard J. ”Dictatorship and Development: The Trujillo Regime and Its Implications.” Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 48.4 (1968): 548–557.

Wolff, Andrew B. Rewriting Trujillo, Reconstructing a Nation: Dominican History in Novels by Marcio Veloz Maggiolo, Andres L. Mateo, Viriato Sencion, and Mario Vargas Llosa. 2006. https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/catalog/7189. Accessed June 3, 2017.