Beli of Wao

In Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the most powerful characters appear to be the women of the work. While Oscar struggles to find a relationship with a girl and Yunior fails to maintain a relationship with a girl, the women are the ones who hold some form of power over their male counterparts. Beli possesses a power over those around her, though her power is often lost through the act of sex. However, she manages to maintain power over her family despite appearing the opposite.

Beli holds power over her family through her stubborn attitude and overconfidence. When she matures, she realizes the control she acquires "By the undeniable concreteness of her desirability which was, in its own way, Power" (94). As a teenager, she uses her attractive features to catch the attention of Jack Pujols, who treats her with "little respect" (99). However, this is unknown to Beli and she still treats their relationship as a position of power in her favor. She believes Jack to be her "husband" (101) and insists that her actions with him are not wrong in any way. 

While their relationship crumbles, Beli finds another partner in the form of the Gangster, a man who appears to reciprocate to her the love she feels for him. Although he "normally would have tired right quick of such an intensely adoring plaything" (126), he makes promises to Beli about buying her houses with twenty rooms in Miami and Havana. Although she no longer possesses "even a modicum of respectability at home" (128), Beli continues to strut around with her head above the clouds, finding herself superior to those around her. When she realizes she's pregnant, Beli refers to it as the "magic she'd been waiting for" (136); she holds a power over the Gangster that guarantees his staying with her. Her power is stripped, however, when it's revealed that the Gangster is married to Trujillo's sister, and Beli is severely beaten up in a canefield. Her child is lost, and therefore her power over the Gangster is also lost. 

Beli's desire to maintain her power over the Gangster is shown in her attempt to keep faith in him. The week before she leaves for New York, she's with him in a love hotel, and although she tries to "hold on to him" (163) in a chance to impregnate herself once more, the attempt fails. Her wish to once again acquire him lasts until her last moment in Santo Domingo; she continues to believe that "the Gangster was going to appear and save her" (164). 

As a mother, Beli is able to exercise power over her family by her commanding ways. Although La Inca treats her kindly, Beli treats her children in an authoritarian manner, her duty being to "keep [her children] crushed under her heel" (55). Her first drop from power occurs when she discovers cancer in her breasts, which could symbolize the moments she loses control due to her sexual encounters. With her cancer, she physically appears weak and thin, and to Lola, she appears "bald as a baby" (70), emphasizing her appearance as innocent. However, when Lola runs from her mother, she's manipulated as her mother is simply pretending to cry, faking it to get her daughter to come back. In addition, Lola comments that she "didn't have to ovaries" (70) to run away from her mother, referring to her ovaries as power or courage. Her mother says "te tengo" (70), which could mean her repossession of her daughter or her repossession of her power.