In his novel The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz examines Latino identities and sexuality, as well as how they are affected and informed. by violence. This violence is carried out by institutions like the state, by representation and misrepresentation, and by the very nature of sex and sexuality. Diaz analyzes identity and sexuality, emphasizing how they are not only self-formed and generated, but also clothed and imprinted, through violence or with violent repercussions.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Reinaldo Arenas' autobiography Before Night Falls evokes similar themes to Diaz's novel about how sexuality is controlled by state violence, particularly in the form of dictatorships. Arenas depicts life in Cuba during the Castro era, explaining how Castro and the state presented homosexuality as evidence of unpatriotism and opposition to nationalism, as well as grounds for torture and imprisonment. Many men who engage in homosexual acts are not homosexual themselves, and it is actually this type of control that causes more sexual acts. This environment of violence and sexuality therefore also affects all other aspects of life. Similarly, Diaz discusses the way sexuality came into play in the Dominican Republic, during the Trujillo era. Oscar's mother, Beli, falls prey to state violence in the form of an attack sanctioned by Trujillo's sister, who disagrees with her relationship with her husband, the Gangster. In this way, Diaz, like Arenas, dismantles the idea of ​​the state as a noble protector and enforcer of just laws, illustrating how it actually commits injustices and implements its own agenda. Both authors also describe how such violent repression is not successful: Beli continues to have a romantic relationship with the gangster, even after the attack, and Arenas continues to have sex with men, in effect obtaining more opportunities for sexual acts thanks to the state. oppression. Foucault, in his History of Sexuality, discusses the idea of ​​the repressive hypothesis, explaining how sexuality is seen as having a history of repression, and discussions of sexuality have been held since the Victorian era. Foucault highlights the inaccuracy of this statement, asserting that silence itself realizes a certain type of discourse and that the repression of discourses on sexuality plays a determining role in their formation. Diaz also discusses a similar idea regarding withholding information: he tells a story in which Abelard, Oscar's grandfather, is imprisoned and violently tortured by Trujillo for hiding his daughter and wife from his rapacious sexual appetite. He then contrasts this account with mention of another possible reason for his imprisonment, relaying information about a possible book that Abelard may have written about Trujillo, demonstrating the supernatural qualities of Trujillo and his regime. In doing so, Diaz mentions pagina blanca, the missing or unknown information in such narratives, and how they can speak louder than any words. Erasing violence from public knowledge, as well as erasing the reasons for its production, does not remove knowledge of its existence or its effects. In this way, sexuality and violence, even when they give the illusion of being silenced, emerge and are spoken of even through their absence from public discourse. Ricardo L. Ortiz,in his article “The Cultural Eroticism of Cuban America”, analyzes the impact of The Life and Death of Arenas. As a homosexual, Arenas was placed outside the context of Cuban nationalism, even being categorized as a terrorist subject due to his homosexuality, and through his death, Arenas simultaneously reaffirmed his Cuban identity, despite being in outside Castro's nationalist project, and attacked him as the cause of his death. Ortiz discusses Arena's death in the context of pro-life protest by drawing attention to the flaws and injustices of the Cuban government, while reclaiming sexuality as a necessary element to sustain life. Similarly, Diaz constructs a similar understanding of Oscar's death in his novel. Oscar essentially commits suicide by choosing to stay with Ybin, despite knowing that his violently angry boyfriend will come after him. As Ybin's boyfriend is employed by the state, he can be seen as a manifestation of its violence, as well as a reincarnation of state violence enacted in the past, for Beli. Oscar's sexuality comes to be the cause of his death, and he comes to realize his Dominican identity through its expression. As such, both authors emphasize the nature of protest through death and beyond life, as well as Latino sexuality as crucial to understanding Latino identity. Furthermore, it can be demonstrated that the state manipulates representations of sexuality for its own ends. In A Queer Mother For a Nation, Licia Fiol-Matta analyzes how the State became encapsulated in the image of Gabriela Mistral and why she became a symbol for the nation. Mistral's masculine and homosexual identity and behavior allowed her to be taken seriously despite being a woman, while continuing to encompass feminine traits desired and sanctioned by the state, such as motherhood. Mistral followed the state's racist rhetoric, maintaining an "othering" gaze toward black people and pushing for racial cleansing by producing more mixed-race white offspring. This racist rhetoric provided the state with a language to address “other” black populations through the passive violence of exclusion and negative representation. In the same way, Diaz presents the figure of Oscar Wao in a curiously contradictory light. He possesses none of the traits of a stereotypical Dominican, and throughout his life finds it extremely difficult to flirt, date, or have sex with girls due to his extremely nerdy personality and socially awkward - eventually resorting to violence. partly due to his inability to realize this aspect of his identity and sexuality. Despite this, he ends up putting into practice the dictum that no Dominican dies a virgin while having sex with his prostitute girlfriend - and in doing so he illustrates the idea that even as an exception to the rule, he can fulfill his "Dominicanness" to the fullest. As such, Diaz wryly examines the ways in which Latino bodies are stereotyped, even within the Latino community, and the violence of this type of representation, as well as the impact that it can have on identity In this way, the two authors discuss the politics of representation and the contradictory and performative nature of identity and sexuality, in his anthropological analysis of street life. Puerto Rican woman depicted in In Search of Respect: Selling Crack en El Barrio, performs similar violence through her representation of Latino bodies, as an outsider to this community, Bourgois casts an “othered” gaze on Puerto Rican crack dealers and creates. a culture of?