Extract pp.120-121, “Luckily Milagro and I have each other” to “He is her gullible ragdoll”

In Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia explores the theme of mother-daughter relationships among other things. In a part of the chapter “The Meaning of Shells”, Luz Villaverde temporarily takes over the narration. Close reading this passage allows an understanding of the difficult relationship between Felicia and her daughters through Luz’s eyes. It is the first time Felicia’s older children feelings toward their mother are expressed. It exposes how the girls live with her and her madness. This relationship is unique in the book, because the girls consciously ignore their mother and work together to erase her from their lives.

The excerpt starts with “Luckily, Milagro and I have each other” (Garcia, 120) which illustrates how the sisters handle the situation with their mother: together. Luz is conscious of their luck: they are going through the same situation and can help each other. This sentence summarises their whole relationship with each other and with their family. Indeed, if they “have each other” in such away, it is because they do not have anyone else. The use of the metaphor “We’re a double helix” (Garcia, 120) is a clever way to express the closeness of the sisters. Indeed as twins, they share the same DNA, represented by a double helix. It is then an extrapolation of a scientific truth used to give an idea of how the girls work together so that “Mamá can’t penetrate [them]” (Garcia, 120).

Luz then reports words from her mother. By quoting Felicia she wants to show her mother’s state of mind and thus brings more substance to her argument. The question: “Do you know the meaning of shells?” seems strange coming from a grown up. Indeed, it is usually young children who ask questions like this one. Felicia’s answer, though very poetic, only reinforces the absurdity of the conversation: “They’re the jewels of the goddess of the sea” (Garcia, 120). The comparisons that Felicia then makes are difficult to comprehend: “You’re my little jewel, Milagro. You, Luz, you’re the light in the night that guides our dreams” (Garcia, 120-121). If they were only a way for her to express her love to her daughters it obviously does not work in her favour but they would be understandable in a poetic way. However, if they are supposed to be interpretations of the girls’ names it does not work completely. Indeed, Luz does mean light, but as Milagro means miracle the comparison to jewels is surprising.

That part is followed by a sarcastic comment from Luz and lets the true disappointment both girls experience appear. It starts with the shortest sentence of the passage: “Pretty words” (Garcia, 121), which summarises Felicia perfectly for Luz: she is made of poetic words that her daughters do not understand, and that only her son listens to. The sentence “Meaningless words that didn’t nourish us, that didn’t comfort us, that kept us prisoners in her alphabet world” (Garcia, 121) enumerates all the reasons why the girls despise their mother. The girls will never forgive Felicia for not being a mother to them, and making them feel locked up in her madness, with no way out.

Luz then shows once again the twins’ closeness by revealing their way of distancing themselves from Felicia’s behaviour: they call her “not-Máma” (Garcia, 121). Luz chooses three examples in which they use this nickname. The first is related to everyday life in a household, highlighting their mother’s incapability of cooking a chicken without burning it and cursing. The second relates to their everyday life, when their mother dances by herself in the dark. The third starts with an apostrophe used as a warning addressed at the second sister to “watch out” for Felicia’s behaviour (Garcia, 121). The twins use this nickname “not-Máma” when Felicia’s actions are not ones of a mother, according to them.

Luz reveals that neither her nor Milagro is able to tell their mother they love her even if Felicia wants them to. Felicia’s reaction is to “[look] right past [the twins]” and Luz believes her mother is looking for another pair of daughters who could say what she wants to hear (Garcia, 121). For Luz and Milagro, not answering to their mother’s expectations is a way to stand up for themselves and show Felicia that she does not deserve their love if she cannot take care of them in the ways a mother is supposed to.

The passage concludes with the mention of Ivanito and his relationship with his mother and his sisters. The boy thinks the twins are “cruel to Mamá” (Garcia, 121), but Luz responds by stating that “[Ivanito] never saw what we saw, he never heard what we heard” (Garcia, 121). This shows the differences between the children. The older ones have known their father, who they respect more than Felicia, ready to forgive him anything and accusing their mother of having driven him away. But Hugo left before Ivanito was born and the boy only knows him through his mother’s eyes. The girls have no pity for the situation their mother was in when Hugo was around. They just do not understand why their mother chased their father away. They only see their mother’s illness and do not find it in themselves to try to understand what happened. Luz says they want to “protect” their brother from their mother’s influence and reveals “he doesn’t want to be protected” (Garcia, 121). This explains why the sisters only count on each other and why they have built a wall between themselves and the other members of their household. Luz nails the coffin of their relationship with their brother with the last sentence of the passage: “He is her gullible rag doll” (Garcia, 121), showing little mercy to either their little brother reduced to a puppet or their mother embodying the puppeteer and dismissing them for the time being.

This extract illustrates for the first time the point of view from one of Felicia’s daughter, and shows how they react to her madness, how they do not have the patience to excuse their mother’s behaviour. Garcia’s theme of mother-daughter relationship is once again explored in depth, this time by an unforgiving daughter whose only solace is found in her twin sister who is the only one who can understand everything she lives.

Dreaming in Cuban, written in 1992, is the first novel of author Cristina García, a Cuban-born American journalist and novelist. The novel takes place both in Cuba and the United States displaying three generations of a family. In this essay, the focus will be on two of the main characters namely Lourdes, one of Celia’s daughter, and Pilar, the daughter of Lourdes. The passage focuses on the analysis starting on page 137 “Most days […]” and finishing on page 138 “[…] a cut on my tongue that never healed” presents Pilar’s desire to return to Cuba and her determination to find answers concerning her native country and her mother. This is throughout the verbs choice and tense as well as figures of speech that Pilar searches her own identity in order to discover where she belongs.

Firstly, although Pilar is rebelling against the Cuban regime, she still considers herself as a Cuban and wants to return to her native country. All along the story Pilar appears as a rebellious and strong-willed teenager and in this passage she is anew intemperate saying “I resent the hell out of the politicians and the generals who force events on us that structure our lives, that dictate the memories we’ll have when we’re old” (p.138). Not only is this saying exaggerated through the hyperbole “I resent the hell out”, but also the verbs that describe how the politicians and generals act are significant: “they force events”, “structure [people’s] lives” and “dictate the memories” (p.138). To some extent, these verbs are representing the precept of the communism which is the control of the country by the state letting no liberty and choices for the citizens. Thus, on the one hand Pilar’s youth and character lead her to amplify her saying but on the other hand she is mindful of what happens in Cuba under the communist regime. Though Pilar does not agree with the whole Cuban regime and lives in the United States for a long time, she still considers herself as a Cuban speaking in the first person plural: “who force events on us”, “structure our lives” and “the memories we’ll have […] we’re old” (p.138). To some extent, Pilar shows her belonging to Cuba through the we-pronoun. In addition to, she expresses a wish to return to her native country claiming: “Every day Cuba fades a little more inside me, my grandmother fades a little more inside me.” (p.138). The repetition underlines Pilar’s desire to visit Cuba and her grandmother in order to strengthen the decreasing relations with her roots. Then, before her return to Cuba and the answers to questions that have remained open for years, Pilar can only imagine “where [her] history should be.” (p.138). Relatively, because of her life in Brooklyn and the refusal of her mother to talk about Abuela Celia and Cuba, this is through her imagination that Pilar maintains her links to Cuba.

At this point, Pilar not only wants to return to Cuba to see her grandmother and to visit the country but also because she is searching her identity. Through the verbs choice and tense used by Pilar, she questions herself and her relatives about her roots. Most of the verbs used by Pilar are in the present tense signifying that she speaks at the same time the plot takes place. All along the passage, the verbs either describe her thoughts and feelings “I resent” and “I think” twice, her determination “I can” and “I want” or her questioning “I ask” and “I’m prying” (p.138). Concerning Pilar’s thinking “I think he stays in his workshop” and “I think we should have moved to a ranch” (p.138), the situation is hypothetical because that is only what Pilar believes about her father but nothing is confirmed. Then, Pilar shows once more that she is perseverant and self-confident using two modal verbs “I can do not to hijack a plane to Havana” and “I really want to know, why mum hardly speaks to Abuela” (p.138). The context in which she uses “can” shows that it is not a question of physical capacity but of permission. Pilar cannot “hijack a plane to Havana” (p.138) because it is an illegal act which is punishable by law.  Moreover, when Pilar asks her father about her mother and Cuba this is because she “really want[s]” explanations of why her mother “keeps her riding crops from Cuba” (p.138). While she has a strong wish which is accentuated with the adverb “really” placed before “want” (p.138), the phrase “keeps her riding crops from Cuba” bears a deep meaning. Pilar makes a connection with what happened to Lourdes in Cuba such as the rejection of her mother (p.48), the loss of her child (p.70), and the violent rape by a soldier (p.71) without knowing these facts. Finally, Pilar “ask[s]” her mother about Abuela Celia and has the feeling of “prying” into secret information. These two verbs imply the desire to have answers which is what Pilar aims for. Thus, even though Pilar has a strong desire to learn about her roots and grandmother and is aware that Lourdes has bad memories concerning Cuba, she is determinate to find where she belongs.

Following this, Pilar’s lack of knowledge about the exact events that happened to her mother in Cuba makes her feeling resentful towards Lourdes and this adds to the recurrent mother-daughter conflicts. Pilar wants to learn about her grandmother Celia, nonetheless each time she asks her mother about it “she gets annoyed” and “shuts [her] up quickly, like [she’s] prying into top secret information” (p.138). The irony of Pilar in the phrase “top secret information” shows her ignorance concerning the reason why her mother is distant with Celia. What is more, Pilar’s father accentuates the contrast between Lourdes and Pilar when this latter questions him “why [her] Mom hardly speaks to Abuela or why she still keeps her riding crops from Cuba.” (P.138). Most of the time he answers “refeering the fights” (p.138) between Lourdes and Pilar instead of the question. Consequently, due to the paucity of information about the past of her mother as well as their constant conflicts about the revolution and Cuba, Pilar has to face at a time a mother-daughter conflict and an inner-conflict linked to the search of her identity.

To conclude, the omnipresence of Pilar’s search of identity is seen through a desire to return to the country and her perseverance to obtain information from her relatives. Additionally, the verbs used by Pilar are meaningful and affirm her determination and her importance of where she belongs. However, the contrast with her mother’s view as well as the lack of information about her life leave Pilar in an inner conflict of discovering if she is a Cuban, American or hybrid girl.

In García’s “Dreaming in Cuban”, we learn about the destructive union between Felicia, one of the main female protagonists, and Hugo Villaverde. The reader knows that the relationship is going to turn out badly, since the history of the couple is told as a flashback of Felicia, recalling her earlier life. However, in the extract recounting the lovers’ reunion after Hugo’s absence and their marriage shortly after, the text and stylistic devices give sufficient indication that this union is doomed to ruin.  Indeed, in the passage going from “When they met again late in hurricane season […]” (p. 80) to “His twin daughters were born without him on Christmas Eve” (p. 81), García’s use of tropes, figures of sound and a lexical field closely related to death creates a lugubrious atmosphere, which foreshadows the tragic outcome of both characters’ future.

Primarily, by examining the global structure of the extract beginning with the reunion of Hugo and Felicia “late in hurricane season” (p.80), and ending with the birth of Luz and Milagro “on Christmas Eve” (p.81), we notice that the text is made up essentially of brief sentences. The most striking example of this minimalist style is the description of the marriage ceremony, which is recapitulated in 3 short sentences: “Hugo married Felicia at city hall the week of the Cuban missile crisis. Herminia brought a bottle of champagne from Spain but no one remembered to open it. Jorge del Pino refused to attend” (p.81). These phrases share the most basic grammatical structure: the subject comes first (Hugo / Herminia / Jorge del Pino / no one), which is directly connected to an active verb (married / brought / remembered / refused) followed by a direct object (Felicia / a bottle of champagne from Spain / to open it / to attend [the ceremony]), with additional time and space indications in the first sentence exclusively (at city hall the week of the Cuban missile crisis). The use of short and nearly identically structured clauses creates a form of repetition and gives the passage a jolting rhythm. Additionally, by conveying no emotion and rendering only hard facts, the text creates a cold, somewhat austere atmosphere, which might be more fitting for a funeral description. We can thus affirm that the minimalist form of the extract and more specifically the very formal description of the wedding ceremony create a cold and negative atmosphere, which makes the reader anticipate the gloomy series of events.

Although the passage mostly contains brief sentences, García still provides a few descriptions. For instance, in the last paragraph of page 80, the butcher shop where Felicia works as a cashier is thoroughly described with the help of several metaphors and similes linked to the lexical field of butchery. First of all, the setting is full of animal flesh; there are “bleeding carcasses” (p. 80) hanging all over the butcher shop, and even a dead “hog’s head” (p. 80) sitting “like a trophy” (p. 80). The use of vocabulary related to butchery undoubtedly contributes to the glacial ambiance of the passage, as the presence of flesh and blood echoes death. Even humans are given features of animal meat: Felicia has difficulties distinguishing the butchers from the “marbled slabs of beef at their elbows” (p. 80), and also sees porcine traits in her customers, as Compañera Sordo’s “bristly jowls and upturned nose” (p. 80) and Compañero Llorente’s “pink eyes and jerking chin” (p. 80). Interestingly, Felicia herself is metaphorically depicted with those animal-like features, as “her cheeks are threaded with a web of fine veins” (p. 80), and she even ends up calling herself “red meat” (p.81). The fact that individuals are described with words normally associated to animals and meat dehumanizes them, thereby accentuating the cold, emotionless feel of the text. Therefore, we can argue that by using a butcherly lexical field to depict the shop, and metaphorically describing human characters with this same vocabulary, the author produces a dark ambiance, to some extent deprived of human warmth, auguring Felicia and Hugo’s future.

As we have observed the effects of structure and vocabulary on the atmosphere of the text, we may now focus on the characters’ speech. The only dialogue found in this passage is the very short exchange of Felicia and Hugo, immediately after their marriage on page 81. Felicia breaks the silence by telling her husband: “If you want, I can tie you up the way you like” (p. 81). In response, he answers: “If you come near me, I’ll kill you […]” (p. 81). In this brief conversation, we can highlight the parallelism in the grammatical structure of both sentences. This figure of style emphasizes the contrast between each character’s saying, since the only thing both sentences have in common is structure. Effectively, Felicia offers to do what she knows will please her husband, whereas he responds in the complete opposite manner, threatening to kill her. This exchange illustrates the dysfunctionality in the couple’s relationship, and predicts the union’s tragic fate. Hence, the use of parallelism in the only dialogue of the text contrasts Felicia’s intentions with Hugo’s, making us understand that the marriage is destined to destruction.

Although figures of speech are of crucial importance to grasp the meaning of the passage, figures of sound are not to be neglected. The poetic dimension of “Dreaming in Cuban” relies partly on the sounds chosen by García to express emotions. Notably, there is an explicit use of alliteration when the text speaks about Hugo’s actions. For example, we read in the following sentences: “Hugo settled into the sofa and stared straight ahead, saying nothing […] Hugo slept on the sofa and left for sea the next day” (p.81). The sibilant alliteration in these two sentences is striking, and seems to be attached to Hugo’s character, as if it were an attribute. The effect of these /s/ sounds is, in this case, to create an atmosphere of sinister. Effectively, as we picture Hugo on the sofa, either staring into space and remaining silent, either sleeping on it alone, we definitely do not imagine a joyful scene, but a rather gloomy image. Consequently, we may affirm that the systematic use of sibilant alliteration when referring to Hugo’s actions has a sinister effect on the text’s mood, and prefigures the couple’s equally menacing future.

As a conclusion, we can therefore assert, based on textual evidence, that the reunion of Felicia and Hugo and their following marriage is only the beginning of their own destruction. As a matter of fact, Garcia skillfully uses repetition in grammatical structure, metaphorical language, selected vocabulary and alliteration to create a glacial, lugubrious atmosphere, thereby foretelling her characters’ dark prospect. Hence, these stylistic elements give us a basis to affirm that the couple is inevitably bound to a tragic ending.

In the novel Dreaming in Cuban, written by Cristina García, each character has an unique way of expressing and dealing with its own emotions. The passage starting with “Felicia del Pino doesn’t know what brings on her delusions” (75) and ending with “[s]he never knows the time” (76) particularly addresses how the character Felicia del Pino deals with her mental illness. It is through the imagery of sound and sight, as well as the use of other figures of speech, that Felicia is able to communicate the pain behind her loneliness and inability to fit in.

The opening sentence of the chosen passage introduces Felicia’s awareness of her own mental illness as well as her inability, or perhaps reluctance, to understand what causes it as the third-person narrator mentions that Felicia “doesn’t know what brings on her delusions” (75). Her madness is further highlited at the ending sentence of the chosen passage, as she is said to “never [know] time” (76) which proves that there is a break from reality. Furthermore, the emphasis on the adverb “never” makes her condition an unending problem, as there is no hope of it changing anytime soon. It is as if the narrator wants the reader to feel Felicia’s despair dragging her down. To express her inner suffering, she has developed a deep sense of hearing as the narrator states that “she can hear things” (75). This statement is later rectified as “ she can hear everything” (75) and as the passage progresses, the vocabulary is more and more assertive. Indeed, the uncertainty that comes with the modal verb “can” is later erased with the affirmation: “She hears [the people] talking but cannot understand what they say” (75-76).

The sense of sound is a a key element in the understanding of Felicia’s madness. The first paragraph of chapter six is full of words of the lexical field of sound such as: “hear,” “every sneeze and creak and breath” (75) which shows how Felicia’s painful sense of hearing mirrors the pain she feels in her life. The emphasis on “every” and the way she compares those sounds to “[t]he scratching a beetle on a porch” and “[t]he shifting of the floorboards in the night” (75) foregrounds the uneasiness and unpleasantness that comes with hearing everyone and everything’s noises constantly. The only way to “lessen the din” is to loudly play “the Beny Moré records […] warped as they are” (75) whose voice comes to replace the others and to stand for her own. The only way for her to have a break from these sounds is to play a music even louder than her own thoughts. Also, the fact that the records are bent mirrors the distorted view she has of reality as well. Although she is aware of the sounds surrounding her, the problem seems to lay in her inability to understand “what [people] say” (76) and her inability to speak the same language.

In the Reader’s Guide at the end of the book (247-58), Cristina García mentions how her first intention was to make Dreaming in Cuban a poem. Although she later changed her mind and wrote a novel, the particularities of poetry remained. For example, each sentence in the quote: “The scratching of a beetle on the porch. The shifting of the floorboards in the night” (75) has ten syllables. This iambic pentameter pattern is typical in the poetic genre. The repetition of the determinant “the” appears four times and the rhymes in “-ing” all contribute to the lyrical tone of the novel. As for the alliteration of the vowel sound “ee,” is also reiterated many times. The fact that these sounds appear constantly in the text, parallels the sound Felicia hears in her head. The use of rhymes makes certain words stand out and induces the reader to make connections between them. The second sentence of the chosen passage, for example, uses rhymes finishing in “-ly” such as: “only,” “suddenly,” and “vividly” (75) which emphasize the way Felicia has a very detailed sense of hearing. The rhyming words “luminosity” and “enemy” (75) can also be linked together and give us an idea that Felicia sees light as a very hostile thing. Not only do all these repeated sounds give the text a sort of musicality but they also give fundamental information about the character.

After the sense of sound, comes the sense of sight, which appears mostly in the second paragraph of the chosen passage. Felicia’s mood is decreasing due to the unstoppable sounds inside her head and this can also be sensed with the disappearance of colors one by one, moving her out of brightness and into darkness. Each color has a symbolic value and each moves away from Felicia, thus showing how her mood influences her surroundings and vice-versa. Symbolically perceived as the color of passion and love, the color red is personified as it “floats above the carnations” (75). Then, the color blue, which is said to stimulate the sense of calm “ rise[s] from the chipped tiles” (75) leaving Felicia in her own anxiety. Her favorite color green “flees the trees” (75) which can signify that there is not even hope left. The emphasis on “even the greens” (75) conveys a sense of fatality since she is left with black and white. Felicia enters thus a monotone and monochromatic stage. The white, with its overpowering intensity, erases all of the colors around. Felicia even goes as far as to feel “assault[ed]” and “threaten[ed]” (75) by its luminosity. She is so scared that she “tightens the shutters” (75) of her windows, not allowing any ray of sun to come. In a way, the whiteness symbolizes the outside and real world which she feels attacked by and the darkness, her inside world as she physically closes herself from emotions or even from people that she does not understand.

Her isolation is established by the fact that she secludes herself at home, rarely “dar[ing] [to] look outside” (75). When she does so, she compares people to paintings who are “outlined in black, their faces crushed and squarish” (75). She describes people as being two-dimensional, flat and oddly shaped which highlights how distant and different she feels they are to her. In a way, she fears their judgement as the third person narrator states that “their white shining eyes” are what makes her feel “threaten[ed]” (75). The human characteristics that she removes from people, Felicia gives to objects. In fact, this inversion can be seen with the use of prosopopeias, as she gives a human action to the concept of color: “The colors too, escape their objects” (75) which she herself is unable to do.

In conclusion, it is through the metaphor of the senses that the reader gets to understand how Felicia’s break from both reality and human contact has clearly contributed to her madness. It also shows how Felicia expresses her emotions since what she is unable to articulate with words, Felicia communicates with sounds and colors, which is a language on its own.

The connection that Pilar Puente has with the world, her mother, her grandmother and painting in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban

In Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia, each character is a member of the Del Pino family. All along the book, the reader discovers their background, their feelings, their thoughts, etc. Furthermore, the narration gives to the reader the impression of being close to the characters. The passage that begins with “Why don’t we” at page 28 until “her to let me go” at page 29 is about Pilar Puente and her link to the world, her relationship with her mother, her grandmother and her love and passion for painting. Pilar Puente is a teenager with many resources and she will not stop to surprise us throughout the book. In some ways, the character puts in mind to the reader that she is a marginal and young girl who looks for answers.

Firstly, we have to say that Pilar Puente is a round character, she is central to the story because of her constant change. This evolution is due to the fact that she asks her a lot about things that a teenager of fourteen years old would not ask; for example, when she says: “Why don’t I know anything about them? Who chooses what we would know or what’s important? I know I have to decide these things for myself.” (28) Those rhetorical questions reveal that she is lucid about some things; it also reveals some aspects of her personality and the fact that she will have to learn things by herself and not from anyone else except her grandmother, Celia del Pino. Through the passage, her personality is starting to be defined; even though she is a teenager, the reader can clearly imagine that she is mature. She speaks with a certain modernity and ease, she is not afraid of using words, she expresses herself, as she was older. She talks a lot about the conflict she has with her mother (Lourdes Puente) and the fact that first, she refused to let her go to art school in Manhattan: “I won’t allow it Rufino! She cried with her usual drama. She’ll have to kill me first! Not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind.” (29) Pilar uses irony when she says that, her relationship with Lourdes is complicated and they have troubles because of their visible difference.

Again, her mother is not so enthusiast to the idea that her daughter is going to art school and it started with the painting classes Pilar was taking. Lourdes thinks that artists are a bad element in society, that they are junkies and dissolute. This is one of the many conflicts between Pilar and Lourdes. She does not accept that her daughter is someone different from other people and that one day she could become somebody important, she does not believe in her paintings and has a bold opinion about the topic; “She said that artists are a bad element, a profligate bunch who shoot heroin” (29). Lourdes’ opinion about the artists is very conventional and cliché, knowing that at that time the beatnik movement was growing in New York, she puts everyone in the same bag but cannot imagine that painting makes her daughter’s happiness. Moreover: “My paintings have been getting more and more abstract […] Mom thinks they’re morbid” (29), once more, we see that Lourdes is very severe towards her daughter’s paintings; she only attends what she wants to attend and does not want to understand her daughter and her feelings. In other words, she does not want to encourage her daughter to do what she wants just because of her opinions; their difference is explicit and the artistic soul of Pilar seems to be a problem for her mother, quite the reverse of Pilar’s father who convinced Lourdes to let her go to art school.

Even though her mother does not accept her difference, Pilar is closely attached to her grandmother. In the passage, we can see how strong their relationship is because Celia encouraged her to go to her painting class: “My grandmother is the one who encouraged me to go to painting classes at Mitzi Kellner’s” (29), this encouragement is something important for Pilar because she has not the support of anyone. This support can be interpreted as an identification of Celia when she was younger, like Pilar, she was wild, determined and in some way, marginal. This identification to her makes their relationship easier, Celia understand her granddaughter, and she sees herself in Pilar. Again, the strength of their relationship is clearly expressed when Pilar says: “She tells me stories about her life […] She seems to know everything that’s happened to me […] Abuela Celia says she wants to see me again. She tells me she loves me” (29), the fact she hears her grandmother talking to her and telling her stories shows that she is also attached to her Cuban origins “what the sea was like that day” (29), Pilar wants to know Cuba which she could really have a real idea of what her origins are. In addition to the strength of their relationship and her origins; the term abuela (which means grandma) reveals her intimacy with Celia, after all, she only knew her when she was two years old so it could have been a stranger but she is not just, because they do not forget each other. By the way, they seem to share a mother-daughter relationship, Pilar is like the daughter Celia has never had and vice versa.

To conclude, the passage reveals a strong point about the relationships between Pilar, her mother and her grandmother. The complexity of the situation between her and Lourdes and the huge love she has for Celia. All those things make the character of Pilar important to the story because of her lucidity and her manner to say things. As said, the passage points to the reader the start of Pilar’s love for painting, the passage shows a lot about it and predicts many things about the rest of the book.

pp. 136-137 “There’s other stuff…” to “…a huge burning effigy of El Líder”

In Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia draws the complex picture of a family strongly affected by political changes. Each character has its own opinion about politics, which someway defines each of them. Pilar’s relationship to her mother can be seen as a political fight between the two of them. Pilar’s first person narrative expresses this opinion through the passage, as she constantly associates her mother with an excessive patriotism. Rather than describing a familial duality, their relationship is illustrated by these political tensions. In this passage, Pilar argues about three patriotic features of her mother she cannot stand: national pride through parades and national days, American food, and Lourde as a control freak. Nonetheless, these features must be taken from Pilar’s very own point of view. This intimate point of view might be considered as a key to read Pilar’s passages.

Each parade and national day represents a country for its virtues the most vivid way. Here, Pilar quotes the two most celebrated ones: Thanksgiving Day and the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day. As these days are celebrated through the whole country, Lourdes gets naturally enthusiastic. Although Pilar directly states that “the worst is the parades” (137), she then focuses more precisely on what her mother does during those. Rather than identifying what upsets her with national days, she mainly denounces Lourdes behavior. The striking use of irony and sarcasm depicts Pilar’s humor and own language, when she mocks her mother with “like we’re going to starve right there on Fifth Avenue” (137), and “like maybe a huge burning effigy of El Líder” (137). This language, expressed through the first person narration, leads the reader inside Pilar’s mind. It emphasizes the intimate aspect of these reflections, confronting the reader’s neutrality. One can be more distant with the third person narrated passages, but Pilar’s ones require a decision from the reader: to support her or not. This way, a strong opposition between the daughter and the mother is created by the means of language through a political opinion.

Pilar makes numerous comments on her mother’s habits with food. Although she did not experience much of the Cuban food culture, she seems very critical about the American one. Her opinion has much to do with the American lifestyle itself, and its relation to obesity. She ironizes her mother “barbecuing anything she can get her hands on” and “[making] food only people in Ohio eat” (137). At first, these hyperboles seem to criticize American food itself and its excessiveness. But it can also be seen as the characterization of Lourdes’ obsession with food. It depicts a form of patriotism in the food itself. Pilar highlights the place that food takes in Lourdes mind, as if it blinds her from other problems. She deplores they only “sit around behind the warehouse and stare at each other with nothing to say” (137).  This aims again at Lourdes’ behavior more than American food itself. Pilar does not comment or give any bad opinion on it. She rather criticizes the enthusiastic, devoted and obsessional patriotism of her mother, through Lourdes’ relation to food.

Control and security are also patriotic features Pilar blames on Lourdes. They probably are the most problematic ones according to Pilar as she is in a rebellious “teenage” period. The first half of the passage shows very strong words that belong to this specific military lexical field: “spies”, “patrol”, “keep me in line” (136), “tyrant” (137). It is of course another way for Pilar to make fun of her mother. It also relates to her recent new job as an auxiliary policewoman which Pilar does not like. The more zealous Lourdes gets in her job, the more Pilar misunderstands this behavior. Pilar names it a “misplaced sense of civic duty” (136), referring to her own political opinion. This also has to do with her relation with Max, which can be seen as a personification of the young hippie, playing in a rock band. But Pilar seems more concerned with her mother’s way of controlling what surrounds her. She ironically considers Lourdes as a “frustrated tyrant” (137). This hyperbole tends to define her mother like a political identity, rather than using the familial link they share. Max himself uses a more affective term to describes Pilar’s mother, “more like a bitch goddess” (137).

Although she mocks the “ghost patrol” (136) her mother forms with Abuelo Jorge, Pilar directly distances herself with the parenthesis “(which I’m not)” (136). This is written in a “personal dairy” form, and one can wonder whether this really is Pilar’s personal diary or not. The same feature is found on the next page where she describes herself “(five feet eight inch)” (137) and her hair “(black, down to my waist)” (137). This writing feature brings the reader more deeply inside Pilar’s mind than any other narratives in Dreaming in Cuban. It emphasizes the complex and conflictual relationship the daughter and mother share, suggesting to chose a right side.

Considering this relationship from Pilar’s point of view stays narrowed regarding a much more complex outline through the whole novel. Nonetheless, the chosen passage illustrates well Pilar’s emotional aspect through political opinions. Along with others Pilar’s passages, the narrative flow tries to catch the reader’s attention into the daughter’s mind and reflections. Her resistant ideas play a great role in this construction to assert Pilar as the anti-patriotic, rebellious teenage. It also enhances her sensible capacity, which is first presented through her artistic practices. Exaggerating Lourdes’ patriotic behavior draws the relationship in a “more political than affective” way that fits very well to Pilar’s revolted state of mind. Lourdes’ motherhood is depicted in a tyrannical way that can be related to others characters’ experiences in Garcia’s novel.

The plot of the story takes place during. Cuba’s Revolution, at the time where Fidel Castro tried to change the isle’s economic situation. The plot goes back to Batista’s reign through Celia’s letters which gives her point of view during the two political situations. This historical parallel raises several social issues through Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban, published in 1992, in America. These questions entertain links with the characters’ identities, the economic situation of Cuba and the opposite political views illustrated by the protagonists of the story. The subject of this essay concerns with the economic growth thematic raised from page 44, “In the back of the plaza, flatbed trucks are accepting volunteers for the fields” to page 45, “She examines her hands daily with pride.”. This passage draws a parallel with the historical harvest of sugarcane in Cuba during the first part of the 20^th century, in order to raise its primary sector. However, the plot pictured in pages 44 and 45 of Dreaming in Cuban contrasts the harvest on the workers’ attitudes with Celia’s subdue to it. Thus, the personification of the sugarcane field and Celia’s perception of the workers’ bodies demonstrates her devotion and desire to contribute to Cuba’s economic growth.

Through Celia’s character focalization, the sugarcanes assimilate to a symbol of abundance favorable to Cuba’s prosperity. The lexical field describing the sugarcanes as abundant embodies Celia’s confidence in the project of growing economically independent:

“Celia imagines the cane she cuts being ground in the centrales, and its thick sap collected in vats. The furnaces will transform it to moist, amber crystals. She pictures three-hundred-pound sacks of refined white sugar deep in the hulls of ships.” (p.45)

This extract depicts the cane juice as thick and collected in huge containers that are the vats which extends this qualification to the idea of profit due to its expected abundance. The “amber crystal” term designating sugar shows its preciousness in Celia’s mind. Her high hope also shows up when the narrator mentions her comparison of the “false prosperity” (p.45) with the new prosperity that even the workers would benefit of as she thinks: “a prosperity that those with her on these hot, still mornings can share”. (p.45). She believes in a new justice which will benefit every class The futuristic projection marked by the future tense and her optimistic economic anticipation also draws the hope for a better future.

Celia’s perception of the field workers’ identities confuses it with the sugar cane harvest. First, the limited narrator only designates the working citizens as “workers”, “volunteers” and “machetero”, which only assimilates them to their role in the field. Through the internal narrative focus on Celia’s thoughts appears her devotion towards the Revolution which she serves by working as a volunteer. The synecdoche replacing the worker by his hand illustrates this: “Celia pulls on a hand stretched before her, its nails blunt and hard as hooves” (p.44). Indeed, the narration points Celia’s indifference towards her environment and illustrates the nature of her current obsession which is of working in the fields in order to serve the Revolution. The simile “its nails blunt and hard as hooves” draws intention towards the unnatural thickness of the nail which appears no longer as refined, rather as a horse’s hardest part of its feet. However, the description of the workers’ environment reflects a less optimistic atmosphere: “There are rats everywhere, hollowing the sweetest stalks, and insects too numerous to swat” (p.44). This hyperbolic description composed with the terms “everywhere” and “too numerous” highlights the fact that they are surrounded by nature and animals which causes them to cohabite with those “numerous insects”. The confusion of the environment with the bodies also appears to underline the fact that the workers and the fields become one entity entailed together. Thus, the term “rats hollowing the sweetest stalks”, though rats really eat the cane’s stalks, it could also symbolize that some people also reap the sweetest benefits without respecting the sugarcane workers. However, the setting of the passage confuses the workers with the colors of the field.

Indeed, the sugarcane field’s personification throughout the first paragraph of this passage assimilates it to a living entity. Therefore, other objects related to the harvest interact with the volunteers, as for example the “flatbed trucks [accepting] volunteers for the fields” (p.44). The image of a flatbed truck accepting volunteers suggests, from Celia’s focus, that the vehicle stands as a symbol of equality by rejecting no one. This impression reinforces when the narrators claims that “the acres of crane are green and inviting” (p.44). However, the focus changes gradually to reveal a narrower place through Celia’s eyes slowly approaching the fields with truck as the narrator signals it: “But deep in the fields the brownish stalks rise from the earth to more than twice her height, occluding her vision” (p.44). Celia and the fields confuse into one another until they form an entity: “The sun browns her skin.” Parallels with the “brownish stalks”. Plus, she only sees the stalks which “occlude her vision”, this term also emphasizing the brownish color of the stalks that blind Celia. This analogy reinforces Celia’s devotion to the harvest, as the narrator states when remarking “For two weeks, Celia consigns her body to the sugarcane”. The world “consign” contains in itself Celia’s intention of committing herself to this activity. This feeling infiltrates her very body when the narrator states that “[…] the stink of the sugarcane coats Celia’s nostrils and throat […]” (p.45), this metaphor underlines the strength of her promise.

In conclusion, this passage encapsulates Celia’s spirit towards the revolution and illustrates it through the way she focuses only on the new symbol of prosperity the sugarcane evokes. Therefore, this passage describes Celia’s point of view on the revolution. However, this extract also discusses the question of personal perception by isolating Celia’s thoughts which reveals the purpose of her actions that only the reader knows about. This literary procedure contrasts Celia’s intentions and the other field workers. Indeed, Celia represents the balance of her moral and her actions which confirms her sincerity.

Bibliography:

Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.

The Cuban revolution thematic in Cristina Garcia’s Dreaming in Cuban engages with different perspectives which result in each characters’ points of view. In the same way, this extract of the story, from page 44 “For the next two weeks, […]” to page 45 “[…] the fields will be burned and replanted”, engages with Celia’s attitude towards the revolution initiated by “El Líder”, the symbol referring to Fidel Castro. The voice of the limited narrator illustrates Celia’s engagement towards the revolution. Therefore, the characterization of Celia’s achievements in harvesting the sugarcane depicts her enthusiasm. She believes the sugarcane is the essential resource to enhance Cuba’s economic independence.

Celia’s characterization demonstrates her determination to work as efficiently in the fields as a cutting device: “Celia learns to cut the cane straight across at the base, strip its leaves with her machete, then chop it in even pieces for the gatherers.” (p.44). This juxtaposition presents the process of cutting the sugarcane and Celia’s efficiency doing it. The word “learn” induces that this action requires some technique. The juxtaposition extends the impression of mechanic process of Celia’s gesture. She “[…] cut the cane straight across at the base […]” (p.44), the expression “straight across” suggests that Celia cuts the cane with strength. The term “even pieces” makes the reader notice the precise and effective work of Celia. This precision emphasizes Celia’s enthusiasm.

This mechanical behavior illustrates Celia’s devotion characterized through her perception of the sugarcane. The repetition of the word “sugarcane” reinforces Celia’s obsession for it. “Celia consigns her body to the sugarcane” (p.44), the word “consign” meaning that she devotes her body exclusively to the sugarcane which appears through the repetition of the words “fields”, “stalks”, “cane”, “sugarcane” referring to the body of the sugarcane. The contrast of the setting in the field and Celia’s behavior illustrates that she dedicates her body as a tool for the harvest. The juxtaposition depicting that “there are rats everywhere, hollowing the sweetest stalks, and insects too numerous to swat” (p.44) displays a negative atmosphere contrasting with Celia’s enthusiasm. This juxtaposition emphasizes the hyperbolic description of the environment. The words “everywhere”, “sweetest” and the expression “too numerous to swat” amplify the harshness of the labor. However, the following characterization of Celia’s conduct presents an opposite dynamic to this negative juxtaposition: “Despite her age or because of it, Celia advances steadily through the fields, hardening her muscles with every step, every swing” (p.44). In contrast with the extract above, this juxtaposition reflects Celia’s steadfast attitude with the words “steadily” and “hardening” which both refer to the firmness of her body. The parallelism in “every step, every swing” reinforces this firmness by shifting on her steps and her moves when she cuts through the canes.

Celia’s devotion also appears through her attitude in contrast to the workers’; she “stares as the blood mingles with the sweat of its victim’s chest” (p.44) while “several men grab the worker from behind and take him from the fields.” (p.44): She does not react to the tumult; she stays static by “staring” while the others move and “take him from the fields”. This antithesis in their attitude seems to oppose Celia to the workers. She half observes this situation as she also “does not know to whom” (p.44) the “creole woman spits out a curse” (p.44). She remarks the physical features but does not seek to understand what happens. The description of the worker’s injury illustrates that she fixes the victim and that she notices the blood mixing with the sweat on the chest but that she does not participate in the tumult.

This claim about Celia’s social distance from her environment links to Celia’s obsession with the sugarcane. The third paragraph connects with Celia’s confidence in the sugarcane power over Cuba’s economic independence. Indeed, the limited narrator reports through free indirect speech Celia’s expectation: “And Cuba will grow prosperous. Not the false prosperity of previous years, but a prosperity that those with her on these hot, still mornings can share.” (p.45). The litotes “not the false prosperity” minimizes the importance of this event as if Celia keeps it in the past. As a result, she focuses on the future as the repetition of the word “prosperity” holds a positive meaning for her. This optimism shows up through the word “share” which emphasizes Celia’s wish for economic equality. Her expectation for Cuba growing economically independent extends to the workers referred as “those with her on these hot, still mornings”. The juxtaposition “hot, still mornings” associates with a peaceful atmosphere which opposes to the incident with the injured volunteer.

Celia imagines the sugarcanes as a symbol of richness. She places great hopes in the harvest to enable the sugar’s exportation. Therefore, she imagines the sugarcane as “being ground in the centrales, and its thick sap collected in vats”. The word “thick” suggests that Celia views the sugarcane’s juice as a rich nutrient. In Celia’s mind sugar serves her country as well as others emphasized through this polysyndeton: “People in Mexico and Russia and Poland will spoon her sugar for coffee, or to bake” (p.45). The accumulation of the conjunction “and” reinforces Celia’s expectation for the future and her belief of sugarcane becoming Cuba’s major resource. The enumeration of these crucial countries in regard of Cuba’s economic situation supports Celia’s optimism. Although she expects a lot from the sugarcanes, she recognizes Cuba’s economic position which links with her enthusiasm for the revolution.

The limited-narrator’s characterization of Celia enables the reader to observe her from an objective perspective and through her own vocabulary. However, in this case the narrator is unreliable because its speech bears the mark of Celia’s subjectivity. The literary devices displayed as repetition, polysyndeton and juxtaposition present the incidents with a focus on Celia’s character rather than describing this setting. Therefore, this literary process contrasts the reality of the events with Celia’s perception of her environment. The internalization of the sugarcane symbol as a resource to grow economically independent dominates the narration. Therefore, this internalization illustrates how obsession and devotion enable Celia to surpass herself.

Bibliography:

Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. New York: Ballantine Books, 1992.