• Dominican Men are known for being womanizers, with a very masculine way of behaving, this is why Oscar is the odd one out and seen as “un-Dominican”, because he is different from the regular stereotype.

• This shows how men were supposed to be hypermasculine. Oscar was glorified when he had 2 girlfriends at a time as this was seen as an act of being alpha, macho, super masculine.

• Women being abused and no one talking about it since it was so normalized. Even her mother told Oscar that he should hit the girl in order for her to respect him.

• Describing the Dominican culture, men are supposed to have a lot of women and it is okay for men to disrespect their wives or partners. It also shows how Dominican men were expected to have game and be good at talking with women, thus, having lots of women.

• We can see how forcing women to do things without consent was also very normalized and older men taught younger men  to keep on doing these things. So basically these beliefs were taught from generation to generation, so the cycle will or could never end.

• By providing footnotes he limits the reader from research more than they should; this could be comparable to a pagina blanca where Trujillo wanted everyone to see how he himself saw everything.

• In the book, Oscar is marginalized because he doesn’t follow the stereotype for Dominican men to be aggressive, very strong and attractive to women, “He was crying… Look at the mariconcito, somebody snickered”. In this quote, the author uses alliteration to emphasize that people judged Oscar for being emotional and not “masculine” enough. Because Oscar didn’t like to be aggressive, his confidence was destroyed, and he started to gain weight. He was not someone attractive for many women, and stayed in the friend-zone with Ana. He was even discriminated against by his best friends for not looking like other dominicans. As a reader, we feel empathy for him, someone who lacked “Atomic Level G” and was judged by all of his teenage years, even his mother “you certainly don’t take after me”. However, we can have mixed feelings about his aggressiveness created by love. If he was so peaceful and calm, why did he plan on shooting Manny? In my opinion, he needs to find himself and get to know his abilities and flaws. When he does this, no comment nor tag will prejudice his state.

• In the book, Oscar is marginalized because he doesn’t follow the stereotype for Dominican men to be aggressive, very strong and attractive to women, “He was crying… Look at the mariconcito, somebody snickered”. In this quote, the author uses alliteration to emphasize that people judged Oscar for being emotional and not “masculine” enough. Because Oscar didn’t like to be aggressive, his confidence was destroyed, and he started to gain weight. He was not someone attractive for many women, and stayed in the friend-zone with Ana. He was even discriminated against by his best friends for not looking like other dominicans. As a reader, we feel empathy for him, someone who lacked “Atomic Level G” and was judged by all of his teenage years, even his mother “you certainly don’t take after me”. However, we can have mixed feelings about his aggressiveness created by love. If he was so peaceful and calm, why did he plan on shooting Manny? In my opinion, he needs to find himself and get to know his abilities and flaws. When he does this, no comment nor tag will prejudice his state.

• In the book, Oscar is marginalized because he doesn’t follow the stereotype for Dominican men to be aggressive, very strong and attractive to women, “He was crying… Look at the mariconcito, somebody snickered”. In this quote, the author uses alliteration to emphasize that people judged Oscar for being emotional and not “masculine” enough. Because Oscar didn’t like to be aggressive, his confidence was destroyed, and he started to gain weight. He was not someone attractive for many women, and stayed in the friend-zone with Ana. He was even discriminated against by his best friends for not looking like other dominicans. As a reader, we feel empathy for him, someone who lacked “Atomic Level G” and was judged by all of his teenage years, even his mother “you certainly don’t take after me”. However, we can have mixed feelings about his aggressiveness created by love. If he was so peaceful and calm, why did he plan on shooting Manny? In my opinion, he needs to find himself and get to know his abilities and flaws. When he does this, no comment nor tag will prejudice his state.

"he had drowned on Semana Santa and she never remarried, never touched another man." "I know I should, but I can't. I love him."

"He had secret loves all over town, the kind of curly-haired big-bodied girls who wouldn't have said boo to a loser like him..."

"If a bog hit me, Lola said cockily, I would bite his face."

"Tío Rudolfo had four kids with three different women so the ... was without doubt the family's resident metéselo expert."

• By providing footnotes he limits the reader from research more than they should; this could be comparable to a pagina blanca where Trujillo wanted everyone to see how he himself saw everything.