Hybridity is a key concept in post-colonial literature. As Edwards explains in his paper, hybridity can be considered “a challenge to essentialism and problematic ideas about purity and authenticity” (EDWARDS, 140). Thus, hybridity is the antithesis of purity. Hybridity is a central theme in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban; the novel explores the consequences of the Cuban Revolution through the lens of different women. One character that stands out concerning hybridity is Lourdes, as she is what one can call a ‘non-hybrid’ character. Lourdes’ non-hybridity is explored through her binary and mimetic behaviour and confronts the reader to a different way of coping with post-revolution lifestyle.

Lourdes is a binary character. In fact, she “abhors ambiguity” (GARCIA, 65) to such a point that she either lives in one extreme or another. It is either all or nothing. This can be seen for example with her eating habits. She does not balance her diet; her need for food is either enormous or non-existent. At the beginning of the novel, Lourdes is described by Pilar as being “as fat as Macy’s Thanksgiving Day float from all the pecan sticky buns she eats” (27). But later in the plot, Lourdes is no longer craving for food; she wants absolute purity inside her stomach (167). In fact, “the smell of food repels her” (169). When Lourdes looks at food she is disgusted as the insectile lexical field suggests: “wormy curves of the buttery croissants, the gluey honey buns with fat pecans trapped like roaches in the cinnamon curves” (169). Here, the food is compared metaphorically to insects and connotes the repugnance that Lourdes is experiencing when looking at food. When at the beginning of the plot she could eat many “sticky buns” (27) as Lourdes describes, here she sees “roaches in the cinnamon curves” (169). The metaphorical terms used to describe the food indicates her strong distaste towards the food she sees. Because of this diet “Lourdes [lost] 118 pounds” and is now completely “[metamorphosed]” (172). Now that this diet is complete she can begin to eat ‘normally’ again, but as her behaviour is binary, she cannot help herself but to eat frantically and a complete opposite behaviour can be seen on page 173: “her mouth is moving feverishly, like a terrible furnace.” She stokes it with more hunks of turkey and whole candied yams. Lourdes helps herself to a mound of creamed spinach, dabbing it with a quickly diminishing loaf of sourdough. […] Lourdes devours every last morsel”. She is craving food, when three pages earlier in the novel she could not even look at it. The variety of the lexical field to describe the food she eats highlights the fact that, in a short period of time, she frantically grabs and eats whatever comes close to her hand, may that be “turkey”, “creamed spinach” or “leek-and-mustard pie” (173).

Furthermore, her binary behaviour can also be seen with the way she thinks about society. She does not care for people “between black and white”, “for the dreamers” (128). Her vision of the world is binary. On one side the communists, on the other side the ‘good people’. Just as she describes it on page 171; Lourdes and Jorge “denounce the Communist threat to America”. For them, “the Democrats are to blame, the Democrats and those lying, two timing Kennedys. What America need […] is another Joe McCarthy to set things right again” (171). In this passage, she clearly opposes two sides: the “leftist”, the “Democrats” and the “Communist” with their lies and propaganda to the “malleable” youth, and the people who could only “set things right again” (171). Her binary behaviour is highlighted here by, her strong beliefs and views on how American politics.

As seen before, hybridity can be seen “as a challenge to essentialism and problematic ideas about purity and authenticity” (EDWARDS, 140); Lourdes’ mimetic behaviour does exactly the opposite. She embraces American culture and adapts to Western beliefs and culture to such a point that Pilar thinks she has a “distorting lens” (GARCIA, 176). Lourdes mimics American culture to such an extent that she “[embellishes]” (176) the reality around her as Lourdes describes. The mimicry of Lourdes can be seen with the way she manages her bakery. Her father wanted her to put up a sign with her name “so they know what we Cubans are up to, that we’re not all Puerto Ricans” (170). Jorge insists on the fact that Puerto Ricans are viewed as ‘bad people’ and that Cubans should not be assimilated to them. He wants to be apart from the segregated group, but as a Cuban. However, Lourdes does not indicate in her signs that she is Cuban. In fact, her signs are in the colours of the United States: “Red, white and blue” (170). She is no longer associated with the segregated culture and people; she “[feels] a spiritual link to American moguls” (170). The term ‘moguls’ refers to an “important, influential, or dominant person; an autocrat.”[1] and thus she identifies herself with the dominant culture. Furthermore, as she identifies with Western culture, she wants an individualistic expansion and “[envisions] a chain of […] bakeries stretching across America […] in suburban shopping malls” (171). This is emphasized by the repetitions of the words ‘she’ and ‘her’ which highlights that it is only her name, her bakery and her legacy that will live throughout the ages. Her business becomes part of the Western culture and therefore, as her identity is associated with the bakery, she herself becomes part of Western culture. It is a mimetic behaviour to blend herself in society and to not compromise her hypothetic place as dominant figure.

All in all, Lourdes can be seen as a binary character that does not want any ambiguity inside her. She mimics the Western lifestyle and adopts its culture. The strong resentment that Lourdes feels towards ambiguity can be interpreted as way of coping with the post-revolutionary lifestyle. As it is a strong transformation in the way one lives his life, the behaviour can be affected in many ways. To cope with this new lifestyle, Lourdes adopts a mimetic and anti-hybrid behaviour. She does not want to think about the past, but is rather focused on the future. It is an adaptation and a way to survive in the Western world.

Bibliography

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

EDWARDS D., Justin. Postcolonial Literature. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

[1] Oxford English Dictionary Online. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/120726?rskey=vP5DAS&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid