Cuban Writer: Reinaldo Arenas

Acclaimed American author Richard Rodriquez’s autobiography “Days of Obligation” conveys that his feelings for both Mexico and the United States can be expressed through contrasts. Rodriquez uses pathos, tropes, and schemes to articulate his feelings. His purpose for writing about the contrasts between Mexico and California is to help readers understand the differences that affected his life. Rodriguez’s relationship with his literate audience is personal, since he is opening about his personal life and his views on it.

My cultural ancestry comes from a Cuban and Mexican decent. I have chosen to write about my Cuban side because I can relate to them more than I could with my Mexican side. I was raised around my Cuban family and would occasionally see my Mexican side due to them living so far away. I have spent a lot more time associating with Cubans and have adapted to more of their habits.

Richard Blanco, a famous Cuban-American poet who became the first Latin American, immigrant, and openly gay Inaugural Poet in 2013, wrote a variety of works based off his life and all the things that were going on in it. In Richard Blanco’s, “El Florida Room” and “The First Real San Giving Day”, Blanco provides the readers with a look into his personal life with information about his family and some characteristics of his life. Dealing with many different societal issues due to his culture and even his sexual orientation, Blanco describes what his life was truly like, more specifically geared towards his culture; being Cuban-American. Through his use of a chronological storytelling in his memoir and a reflection on the past in his poem,

In the story, 90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Flores-Galbis, the main character Julian has one big conflict that is his wish to please his father. Julian’s father, brothers, and Julian go out for a fishing trip in hopes to catch a big fish. Julian’s father specifically states to Julian that he must give the fishing line to him even if there is a slight nibble. They believe that by catching a big fish it will bring good luck for the new year. Julian wants to be the hero and prove to his family that he is capable of catching a big fish. While fishing, Julian finally got a nibble on the line but said nothing to his Dad about it and because it must have been such a large fish, the line snapped. In the book, it stated, “Every time I rewind and then

Vulnerability is a compelling aspect of this text and Vargas consistently uses it throughout the text to appeal to his audience’s sympathy. This is made brazenly obvious when Vargas tells the audience he is gay and then proceeds to write, “Tough as it was, coming out about being gay seemed less daunting than coming out about my legal status.” By telling his audience it is harder to come out to people as an undocumented immigrant than it is to tell people he is gay, it puts everything in perspective. While both gay and immigrants are highly debated topics, the typical American understands how hard it is to come out as gay. It is a challenging and taxing experience to come out as gay because not everyone agrees with that lifestyle. By comparing the two, his audience, legal Americans, are able to begin to understand how formidable coming out as an undocumented immigrant truly is. Vargas strongly appeals to pathos by comparing undocumented immigration to sexuality, evoking empathy from his audience.

The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela is arguably the most important novel of the Mexican Revolution because of how it profoundly captures the atmosphere and intricacies of the occasion. Although the immediate subject of the novel is Demetrio Macias - a peasant supporter of the Mexican Revolution -, one of its extensive themes is the ambivalence surrounding the revolution in reality as seen from a broader perspective. Although often poetically revered as a ‘beautiful’ revolution, scenes throughout the novel paint the lack of overall benevolence even among the protagonist revolutionaries during the tumultuous days of the revolution. This paper will analyze certain brash characteristics of the venerated revolution as represented by Azuela’s

“Aguantando” means holding on. In the very first paragraph we see how important it is for the narrator, Yunior, to hold on to his father’s memory. Yunior lives with his mother (Mami), grandfather (Abuelo) and brother (Rafa). They live in a house where anything of value, including furniture, food, clothing and even Mami’s Bible is stained from a leaky roof. As a Hispanic male, believe me when I tell you there is nothing more sacred than Mami’s Bible in that home. Yet it is clear how important Papi’s pictures are because they’re always in a plastic sandwich bag to keep them dry. It’s also clear that Papi leaving was the

The book is famous because it's the first English-language literary look at the infamous Trujillo era in the Dominican Republic. Rafael Trujillo was among the baddest of baddies, ruling the island nation with an iron fist and a creepy arsenal of scare tactics, including rape, murder, and downright terror. But Trujillo's name doesn't spring to mind for a lot of people listing off 20th century political Big Bads. In fact, for many readers, this novel may be the first time they're hearing about Trujillo and the US's involvement in the Dominican Republic.

Known as an underworld author, John Rechy has successfully exposed the denial, suppression, and oppression of certain actions and lifestyles by traditional Mexican and American culture. Rechy's City of Night and About My Life and the Kept Woman detail events of his life that portray his upbringing in a traditional Mexican family and the atypical lifestyle he leads after leaving home, respectively. Rechy's works bring to light the hypocrisy of Mexican and American culture regarding race, despite both City of Night and About My Life and the Kept Woman erotic and homosexual topics. Homosexuality is the most prominent theme in all of John Rechy's works.

Gloria Anzaldua was a schoolteacher and then an academic, speaker and writer whom talked about feminist, lesbian, and Chicanas about autobiography. She is best known for This Bridge Called My Back; Writings by Radical of Color (19981), which she edited with Cherrie Moraga, and Borderlands/La Frontera; The New Mestiza (1987). Based on Anzaldua’s background one can infer that her intended audience are feminists, lesbians, and Chicanos. We may wonder why these are the authors audience. These are the author’s audience because she is a lesbian, feminist women that is a migrant work which lives in Texas were there is a big population of Chicanas. The reason why these are her intended audience is because, the article was intended to make her audience more aware and come to realization about people shame us with our secondary language. Daily the author gets reminded that society has made her language impossible to improve because others are constantly shaming her of and bulling her by the way she speaks. One can believe that Anzaldua is fighting for those that have struggle in their culture with their language. Also raise awareness using her article that she has experience common struggles. Those people that have used our language against us have made our culture hard to decide which is the right one for us. That we have lose our identity do to the fact of

In 1910, the first social upheaval of the 20th century was unleashed in Mexico. Known as the Mexican Revolution, its historical importance and impact inspired an abundance of internationally renowned South American authors. Mariano Azuela is one of these, whose novel, "The Underdogs" is often described as a classic of modern Hispanic literature. Having served as a doctor under Pancho Villa, a revolutionary leader of the era, Azuela's experience in the Revolution provides The Underdogs with incomparable authenticity of the political and social tendencies of the era between 1910 and 1920. The Underdogs recounts the living conditions of the Mexican peasants, the

Clearly, Sandra Cisneros' writing style is one representative of a minority voice. Her amazing style allows her readers to take an active part in the minority experience. For this reason, I believe Cisneros has had a lot of influence and success in the status of minority writers, especially in the canon of what is read and taught in schools today. But, more than anything, Cisneros has shown that liberation can come through creativity and literature, and not just through geographical excursion.

During the 1970’s Marxists were being hunted by the government and Valentin is a victim of the violence. After three years of being arrested, Valentin, a political prisoner, was moved to cell seven with Molina. The author includes a police report in chapter eight, the dialogue between the warden and the prisoner, Molina, reveals that he is being used as the ears for the warden and the “presidency” (Puig 197). In the event that Molina, a homosexual, was used to contain information from Valentin and his comrades, makes the reader believe that Molina is chosen purposely because of the way he is. Homosexuals during that time period were not accepted by everyone, indicating how Molina struggles in identifying who he can trust in the unwelcoming

Walt Whitman is considered one of the most important writers in the history of American Literature. The people of his own time called him a radical, a madman, and a pornographer. These days he is greatly appreciated and entitled as a fearless prophet of a new stage of human development. Sometimes Whitman would be in a slump and he felt that he needed to deflect the people who inquired too directly. This even meant using examples of homosexual elements in his work, as well as unbelievable stories of him having affairs with numerous women and fathering many children, unknown to him. Throughout these sorts of times W. Whitman has gone through both resentment and flattery, nevertheless showing us

Cuba is an island nation that was adopted in 1902. One third of it consists of mountains and rolling hills. It lies in the West Indies, and is said to be a beautiful island. Havana is Cuba’s capital, and the center of government for Cuba. Some important cities are Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Santiago de Cuba is near the south-eastern area of Cuba, and has a population of about half a million people. It’s considered the second most important city in Cuba, probably because it’s an important sea port. Camagüey is the fourth largest city in Cuba, according to Wikipedia. The symbol of Camagüey is a clay pot, mainly because there are clay pots everywhere. They can be very small, or very big. They’re used to capture rainwater to be