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Dreaming in Cuban: the role of memory in the building of personal and cultural identity

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The novel Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García is filled with themes, a lot of them linked to identity, exile and family. In this novel, each primary female character has her own issues, and her own way of coping with them. However, they all have one thing in common: memory is a big part of their lives and identities, and of the way they deal with their own problems. In this essay, I will discuss the role of memory in the lives of the four main characters: Celia, Felicia, Lourdes and Pilar.

Memories are a big part of Celia’s life. As a matter of fact, the way Jorge and his family treated her in her early years, trying to erase all trace of remembrance in her mind, has left a mark in her that can never disappear. However, as Maya Socolovsky points out, there is a paradox in the way Celia “remembers the process that was intended to create forgetfulness” (Socolovsky, 150). The letters that she writes for her old lover are a good way to show that she has not forgotten this violent experience (Socolovsky, 151). Later, Celia arranges her entire life around the Cuban Revolution, even replacing her husband’s photograph by one of Castro: “[Lourdes] snatches the picture of El Líder off Abuela’s night table. It’s framed in antique silver, wedged over the face of Abuelo Jorge, whose blue eye peers out from behind El Líder’s army cap.” (219). The novel ends on the scene of Celia drowning herself in the ocean, but only after making sure that her granddaughter Pilar will carry on the family’s memory, showing once again how important it is to her: “I will no longer write to you, mi amor. She will remember everything.” (245).

Dreaming in Cuban mentions a scene from Felicia’s childhood, where she plays on the beach before a tidal wave appears. In her article, Elena Machado Sáez points out that as the wave withdraws, little Felicia can see the sand at her feet, and that it “serves as a metaphor for the narrative record of history”, while the tidal wave represents the Revolution, “[breaking] with this historical record and [blurring] the boundaries between the public sand-history and the private homes of the families” (Sáez, 141). This shows that memory, both historical and personal, has always been a big part of this family. As a result of her illness, Felicia is actually “unable to produce representations of memory”, which explains her confusion and misunderstanding of most situations (Socolovsky, 154). To fill this void, Felicia uses her imagination as we can see in the novel: “Felicia’s mind floods with thoughts, thoughts from the past, from the future, other people’s thoughts” (76). Sáez even notices that “Felicia’s amnesia mirrors a national one, identifying the Revolution as a break within Cuban time”. In fact, she argues that Cuba, being isolated from the rest of the world, will fall to its demise just as Felicia does (Sáez, 141). In conclusion, memory is very important in Felicia’s story, but only through its absence. Her lack of memory is what eventually leads to her death.

Lourdes’ perspective on memory is somewhat contradictory. On one side, she fears her traumatic experiences (her rape and the death of her unborn child) will be forgotten by the world and serve no purpose. The novel states that Lourdes “hungers for a violence of nature, terrible and permanent, to record the evil” (227). She wants her experience to be meaningful, to stay in the world in some way (Socolovsky, 146-147). Simultaneously, Lourdes wishes to erase the memories of the past, to distance herself from it and to achieve “complete forgetting” (Socolovsky, 151). In other words: Lourdes wants to erase her traumatic memories from her own mind, to be released from the pain they inflict upon her; however, she hopes that the world will not forget them and that they will not have been pointless.

The last character I will talk about is Pilar. Memory is a fundamental element of Pilar’s life and identity. She thinks in a unique way and asks unusual questions, like, “who chooses what we should know or what’s important?” (Dreaming in Cuban, 28). This already shows certain maturity in her awareness of collective and individual memory. Additionally, the novel states that Pilar remembers everything: “I was only two years old when I left Cuba but I remember everything that’s happened to me since I was a baby” (Dreaming in Cuban, 26). However, Sáez points out that as Pilar gets older, the knowledge she had been acquiring through hearing her grandmother talk to her at night disappears when their connection fades, and, like Felicia (but not to the same extent), she is forced to fill in the blanks with her imagination (Sáez, 132). It is also interesting to notice that Pilar’s political views are somewhere between Lourdes’ and Celia’s, and so is her memory of Cuba. This is represented by the fact that Pilar has the opportunity to reconnect with her origins through music albums and santería herbs, but that she remains “ambivalent regarding the access these products supposedly provide” (Sáez, 136). Pilar inherits her grandmother’s spirituality, but it is influenced by the skepticism she gets from her mother. Celia gives Pilar a mission: that of preserving her family history. Her return to Cuba allows her to reconnect with this mission and with the elements of Cuba she has been missing (Sáez, 131). However, she fails her grandmother, as she is not able to complete her mission. Pilar realizes that Cuba is too complex to be recorded entirely: “Nothing can record this, I think. Not words, not paintings, not photographs” (Dreaming in Cuban, 241).

Through the short analysis of the role of memory in the lives of the four main female characters, I have proven how important it is in the novel in general. Additionally, we have seen that memory can vary enormously depending on the past experiences and the personality of each character. Memory is an important factor of personal and cultural identity, whether the person might be holding on to precious memories – like Celia and Pilar – or desperately trying to forget the past – like Felicia and Lourdes.

Bibliography:

Primary:

Cristina GARCÍA, Dreaming in Cuban, Ballantine Books, New York, 1993.

Secondary:

Elena Machado SÁEZ, The Global Baggage of Nostalgia in Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, MELUS, Vol.30, No.4, Home: Forged or Forged? (Winter, 2005), pp.129-147.

Maya SOCOLOVSKY, Unnatural violences: Counter-memory and preservations in Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban and The Agüero Sisters, Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, 11:2, 143-167.

The importance of form in the development of a character

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In any literary text, the form is a central element and is usually linked to the content. For Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban, it is definitely the case. In this book, form is a tool used to give each character a specific way to express him- or herself, therefore making them unique and more realistic. In the passage chosen for this essay, pages 120-121 (“Luckily, Milagro and I […] it’s okay with me”), Luz Villaverde has her own voice and it helps define who she is, using both figures of speech such as metaphors, allusions and similes, and narrative elements. Here I will analyze these different elements and show how closely form is linked to meaning.

This passage is told from the point of view of Luz Villaverde, a young teenager. She speaks using a lot of imagery (particularly metaphors), which accentuates her youth – whereas an adult, might use more logical, objective terms and be more rational in his description. Luz is a very imaginative girl and her thoughts are filled with images; the visual elements are an important part of the way she thinks.In this passage, Luz uses multiple metaphors, for example to describe herself and her siblings: “[Milagro and I] are a double helix, tight and impervious” (p.120); “[Ivanito] is her gullible rag doll” (p.121). In the first quote, she describes the bond she shares with her twin sister, and the metaphor helps create a vivid image in the reader’s mind. In the second quote, Luz refers to Ivanito’s relationship to Felicia, clearly criticizing her little brother even though he is very young – this emphasizes the fact that she is a child herself and thinks her brother is to blame for obeying their mother, showing a biased narration.The allusion in this passage (“the summer of coconuts”, p.121) shows again that Luz is very young and uses a lot of imagery when expressing herself. It is told casually, as if it were a normal way to refer to a period of their lives. The reader knows what she is referring to as the allusion has been used before in the book, but Luz feels no need to explain it. This is a characteristic of children’s speech; they use their own terms and do not think that they may not be clear to other people.

Another example of Luz’s imagination is the simile on page 121: “[…] she looks right past us as if she could see another pair of girls just behind us.” The young girl gets into her mother’s head and tries to imagine what she sees, showing again her imaginative personality.

Many elements of the narration also contribute to building the Luz’s character. She talks and expresses her feelings very dramatically, meaning that she almost exaggerates the gravity of what she is talking about in order to have more effect on her interlocutor. To create this effect, she uses mostly parallelism; for example, “Pretty words. Meaningless words […]” (p.121); “he never saw what we saw, he never heard what we heard” (p.121); “[…] Milagro and I have a pact to ignore Mamá, to stay as far away from her as possible” (p.121). These constructions are more likely to affect the reader’s emotions about Luz’s story, making it seem more serious than it might have been (however, we cannot make this affirmation with certainty as we are dealing with a biased narrator). Similarly, Luz uses repetitions, such as: “We try to protect him but he doesn’t want to be protected” (p.121), and “They got married and had children while they were still children themselves” (p.121). These repetitions are surprising coming from a young girl; they make her sound very mature for her age (we will come back on this later). In the last example, the emphasis put on the word children is even greater with the word themselves adding on to it.

Two more narrative elements contribute to building Luz’s character for the reader. The first one is the fact that she and Milagro call their mother not-Mamá (p.121). This shows a very strong character for such a young girl – usually when children are mad at one of their parents it lasts only a short moment, and they do not go as far as Luz and Milagro do. It shows that she is a strong, intransigent person, almost unforgiving – although the reader does not blame her for it as Felicia’s inconstant behavior as a mother has already been shown multiple times, and we can imagine the impact this can have on her children. The second element is the way she expresses herself in the last paragraph of the passage. This paragraph shows Luz’s intelligence and her maturity. She says that she realizes how lucky she is to be offered an education:

“We’re studying hard so when we grow up we can get good jobs and go wherever we please. Abuela Celia tells us that before the revolution smart girls like us usually didn’t go to college. They got married and had children while they were still children themselves. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that.” (p.121)

This shows real maturity and intelligence coming from a young girl, as well as political consciousness – she knows that it is easier for her than it used to be for other girls and she wants to take advantage of it and enjoy this chance.

The last paragraph also shows Luz’s – and, indirectly, Milagro’s – intelligence through her choice of words. In a few occurrences, she uses an entire word instead of using the common abbreviation for it – veterinarian and not vet; rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses and not rhinos and hippos. She also states that her twin sister plans to be a “mycologist specializing in tropical funghi” (p.121), a very unusual dream for a child.

These figures of speech and narrative elements allow the reader to learn a lot more about Luz than he or she might initially think. Luz used to be just a child, a part of Felicia’s life and background, and she is starting to step forward as an important character in the novel. She is a very surprising character because of her imagination and her intelligence. Her personality is getting more complex to the reader’s eyes, making her seem like an important part of the story just like Celia, Lourdes and Pilar have been since the beginning of the novel. Luz’s character is now evolving from secondary to primary and, simultaneously, from flat to round.