In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, Diaz explores the concept of power. Through primary characters’ interactions with the government in the Dominican Republic, we learn that power is something people take advantage of, leading to terror and corruption. Some examples of power and control throughout the book is Trujillo, Abelard and Trujillo’s interaction, Beli’s interaction with Trujillo, and Oscar’s interaction with el Capitan.

Trujillo is the man everyone fears and people try to stay away from; he’s the man in power and in control of everyone. We learn this from Yunior’s information that he provides about Trujillo and more specifically, from Abelard’s experience with Trujillo. Abelard, Beli’s father, was a doctor …show more content…
He chose to pursue Ybon, who was dating el Capitan, the head of the Santo Domingo police force. Oscar loved Ybon and she was interested in Oscar too; this was dangerous because he didn’t know that there could be serious consequences for him messing with someone like el Capitan. Oscar because he messed with el Capitan by messing around with Ybon, “ They walked into the cane and then turned him around. He tried to stand bravely” (Diaz 321). At the canefield they beat him until he is beaten until he is is barely living. That's when his family forced him to leave the Dominican Republic because they are scared that he is gonna turn out dead if he decided to stay. They also how that they won't stop until he's is dead. Oscar leaves but later tu turns because he is in love with Ybon. Ybon is scared because she knows what the people in power are capable of. Oscar later gets caught and end up dead just like they always do they killed him in the canefields. But unlike the first time,”Oscar didn’t cry when they drove him back to the canefields” (Diaz 320). Oscar this time knew what he had coming, and he knew what the people would do to him. Oscar knew the consequence of his actions. Oscar understood what they were going to do because it's what all the people in power do get rid of the people they don't like. He had learned what had happened to his ancestors who had crossed Trujillo, and he was just another