Every day, we see refugees on the news, people fleeing revolutions, finding themselves with no ‘home’ and constantly reconstructing their lives. Cristina García, with her novel Dreaming in Cuban, explores the consequences of the Cuban Revolution that took place in 1953. Identity issues, broken families, generational gap and political conflicts are at the centre of García’s work. Pilar Puente is one of the many characters of this novel to go through the struggles that followed the revolution. In fact, Pilar’s need to escape America to find salvation in Cuba is emphasized in this passage (GARCÌA 25, 26). By means of an extended metaphor, lexical field and a contrast between two verb tenses, this passage confronts the reader to the misery she is going through in America and the comfort she hopes to find in Cuba.

Firstly, the passage opens with an extended metaphor of superficiality and consumerism which can be interpreted as the occidental lifestyle. Superficiality and consumerism are characterized by the relationship between Pilar’s father and the ‘beauty queen’ (GARCÌA 25). The superficiality is highlighted with the description of the woman. Only described physically, the beauty she radiates is truly fake. Her hair is ‘blond and puffy’ (25) but it is only ‘bleached hair’; She is a canon of beauty (‘1950s beauty queen’) but she ‘[has] gone to seed’ and her face is ‘waxy [and] bloated’ (25). As can be seen, her beauty is based on fake ornaments. She characterizes the superficiality of the occidental culture. Moreover, the occidental consumerism is emphasized with their actions. Consumerism is ‘the belief that it is good for a society or an individual person to buy and use a large quantity of goods and services’[1]. Consumerism is the action of buying a great number of consumables because it is seen as “good”. For example, the first thing the reader learns about Pilar is that she ‘[is] trying on French-style garters and push-up brassieres’ in a shop (25). Right after that, she is ‘hiding behind racks of hats and on-sale sweaters’ (25). There is such a large number of goods that she is able to hide behind them. Thus representing the ridiculousness of consumerism. It is further seen that consumerism is used as an excuse for the couple to see each other: ‘They walk down Fulton Street arm in arm, pretending to window-shop.’ (25) To sum up, consumerism and superficiality are characterized in this passage by Pilar and the couple.

Even though Pilar almost embraced this style of living at the beginning by trying on goods and ornaments but she later realizes that she resents this lifestyle. Through a lexical field of disgust, this passage shows her repugnance towards this lifestyle. The moment she sees this woman with her father is clearly a turning point. As said earlier, she was living this lifestyle, but, as she ‘[sees] them’, she panics: ‘Shit! I can’t believe this!’ Indeed, in this passage, the physical attributes of the lady are often linked with elements of disgust: ‘like a 1950s beauty queen gone to seed’; ‘flicking, disgusting tongue’; ‘It makes me sick’; ‘that flycatcher tongue of hers’ (25). Pilar cannot stand this superficiality and realizes that the consumerism based lifestyle is a nonsense as she sees them ‘walking down’. Indeed, she realizes that the shops are ‘just a run-down stretch of outdated stores with merchandise that’s been there since the Bay of Pigs’ (25). It is through the lexical field of disgust that the reader can understand the Pilar’s misery. Pilar slowly realizes that she is living a lifestyle based on consumption and appearances and it disgusts her.

Following her disgust, is her will to go back to Cuba. Her decision to return there is accentuated in this passage by the opposition of two verb tenses: present and future. These two verb tenses are geographically attached: present for the United States and future for Cuba. As said before, when Pilar is talking about her life in America, it is associated with disgust. Furthermore, it is narrated in the present tense: ‘I think I hear’; ‘I stick my head’; ‘She has’; ‘They walk’; etc. This present tense is associated to her present life and is therefore synonym of disgust. She is not satisfied with her present life… Which leads her envision a different future. This future is linked to Cuba, as when she thinks about it, there is a shift of verb tense that occurs: ‘I’m going back to Cuba’; ‘I’ll be able to’; ‘She’ll be sitting’; ‘She’ll smell’; ‘There’ll be’ (26). The opposition between these two tenses emphasizes the struggle she is going through and the political ambivalence of the character. Not only this, but the opposition between her present and her future are opposed in terms of lexical field too. The future she envisions is a future full of hope, a future where all of her senses are pleased: ‘overlooking the sea’; ‘she’ll smell of salt and violet water’; ‘She’ll stroke my cheek with her cool hands, sing quietly in my ear’ (26). The lexical field of the five senses highlights the opposition between present and future. Pilar’s present lifestyle is full of disgust whereas her future is a collection of physical bliss. On the whole, there is a clear opposition between America and Cuba. Both geographical regions are associated with a lexical field and verb tenses that are diametrically opposed: disgust and the present tense for America and the five senses and the future tense for Cuba.

All in all, this passage shows Pilar’s necessity to go back to Cuba and to leave the repugnance of America. Through an extended metaphor of superficiality and consumerism characterized by the couple and a lexical field of disgust the passage highlights her disgust toward this lifestyle. Thus leading to her hope to find bliss in Cuba emphasized by an opposition between present and future tense both geographically attached to Cuba and America. This passage is a clear turning point in the life of Pilar as we will see later in the book where she is self-reflecting on this precise moment (p.138).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

GARCÌA, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993.

[1] http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/consumerism