When I first read Junot Diaz’s excerpt from Oscar Wao, I’ll admit I had to reread it a few times and go over the paragraphs to try to get some kind of understanding. As I got caught up in the passage and tried to understand what I was reading, I started to realize the great emphasis Junot Diaz placed on the Fuku curse. It’s widely accepted to be a primary cause of misfortune, and it’s evident that he’s trying to explain the hardships families like his can endure. I’m someone who doesn’t really read into curses or such things because it never feels directly real. I assume most of my confusion stemmed from this, so as I kept re-reading and looking at it from a different perspective it started to make sense. A lot of the language he used rendered a lot of mystery behind this so-called curse. A lot of what he said was new to me, so context is important in order for me to really grasp anything I’m reading. The overall concept of Fuku still confuses me a bit. But since Diaz did mention there are versions of “fuku” in other cultures, I started thinking that Fuku may be specific to the Dominican discourse community. If Fuku is like a curse or doom, then would that be the same as “voodoo” in other cultures?