Gaining a Sense of Peace in the Novel, Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia

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.

In the book Enrique’s Journey the author Sonia Nazario depicts a story of a young boy whose mother leaves him at the age of 4. He is on a quest to find his mother in the USA facing hard obstacles throughout this journey. Sonia Nazario writes about Enrique’s experiences and it serves as an explanation on how people try to accomplish the American Dream. According to Dictionary. com the American dream is “ the ideal that every USA citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative.” To better comprehend the book there were other sources: This is Life, starring Vincent Chou, the poem Let America Be America Again the documentary Immigration Battle and the narrative Which Way Home. Some topics that will be based off this information are money, poverty and family.

From April 15 to October 31 in 1980, over 125,000 Cuban migrants arrived in the United States. Family members from America ferried relatives and institutionalized Cubans from the Cuban port of Mariel, in what was soon coined the Mariel Boatlift. Mirta Ojito, one of these ‘Marielitos’, as they soon were termed, grew up to write “Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus”. In this text, the author provides a historic account of events leading up to the Mariel Boatlift, narratives from important figures surrounding the event, and a personal narrative describing the struggle of her family to gain freedom from the socialist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Throughout the story of the years preceding the boatlift and the influence that living in Cuba held on her life, Ojito describes the positive and negative elements of the both the political climate and personal life on the communist island which led to her eventual emigration to the United States.

Cuba is a very diverse country, but it is very poverty-stricken and is still decades

Pilar through the book shows she is uncommitted to her family, and it can be assumed that she doesn't like her mother Lourdes and tolerates her father. Pilar even tries to leave her town in Brooklyn, New York “I’m going back to Cuba. I’m fed up with everything around here.” (25) says Pilar. You learn that Pilar is against working in her mother's bakery, that she’s “Slaving away” (25) in there. Pilar can be seen as relatable with not wanting to work under her mother's job but rather learn to paint and do something more inspiring to herself.

In the 1950s Cuba had a Revolution. There was many causes of the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban revolution lasted 6 years from 1953 through 1959, “included president Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, brutal suppression and poverty. These factors led to a revolution led by Fidel Castro to overthrow Batista and his government”. This is why this all started. This relates to the book because in the book Sonia’s parents die because of this revolution and its affecting her life because she doesn't want to let her kid go to war in Afghanistan. She lived in Cuba and she moved to the U.S because of the revolution and because her parents died in a revolution she doesn't want to lose her son just like she did with her parents. One of the reasons why Melinda

The effects of the Cuban Revolution on women’s lives and gender relations in Cuba from 1959 to 1990 include that some say women have not reached equality yet with men, women gained more opportunities for themselves, economy and politics, and also how women still had responsibility for children and home, not men.

Generations upon generations of people have been thriving in Spanish speaking countries. Cuba is no different, through traditional clothing and special holidays they always are in tune with the past. With flamboyant traditional attire, that rivals the suns bright color and Spring flowers, coupled with fun to watch free flowing up beat music like Guaguancó or Pachanga, the Cuban culture is very exciting. In order to start to describe my family ties with Cuba, I will use an analogy: With every spin of a vibrant dress it seems as if the hands of time slowly turn back time. As the clock goes back so does my family history. In the early 1920's my great grandmother and her family made the trip from Spain to Cuba. Ever since then my family has had bearings

The cyclical nature of time and the supernatural are recurring themes in Cristina García's 'Dreaming in Cuban'. Throughout the book, the members of the del Pino family find themselves reliving the same events and situations. This is characterized by the repetition of mental illness, attempted suicide, personal exile, and lovesickness that occurs over three generations. Celia, realizes that time will continue to repeat itself unless the family history is documented and carried on. She takes the responsibility of writing letters to her lover, in order to record their story, but understands more must be done, 'memory cannot be confined' (47). When Pilar is born she is endowed with specific gifts

The second reason is simply a generation difference. One might assume that due to the very different upbringings and the societies that the two were brought up in, that very conflicting morals and values may have been molded. Celia grew up in a Cuba under the rule of a dictator-like, oppressive leader. Celia saw Cuba’s true poverty stricken state and long for a new regime. Reasons for Lourdes’s rebellious attitude toward her mother and Cuba in general are much more abundant and clear. Though Lourdes was raised in a very similar society as of that of her mother’s upbringing, but the severity of the government that ruled during her childhood produced a different view of the country all together. Lourdes is a very strong, independent woman whom has man complaints of the method of rule in Cuba. “Lourdes never accepted the life designated

“Cuban culture has undergone a major transformation since the revolution…” Says Sandra H. Levinson, an author. The revolution had a positive impact on Cuba. However, Cuba had to go through a lot to win the Revolution.

I understand the felling Pilar has related to the statement and her family. Her family is hostile to the individual in the fact that they are all divided, and they do not embrace the singularity of the others. Celia is hostile to Lourdes relationship with her father, he feels bitter about it. She know that is her fault the way that Lourdes feel about her, but that doest take away the way that she feels.

Mella believed that Cuba was at a crossroads in reference to their politics and economy; Cuba produced 20-25% of the world’s sugar, therefore Cuba depended on the money obtained from sugar exports to act as a lifeline. Since sugar was basically the blood of Cuba, production needed to remain steady and constant. However, there were accusations that the U.S owned mills were treated to that of a higher status than the Cuban owners. The Cuban government, with indifference placed restrictions to prepare new land pieces for agriculture while they barely had enough money to utilize the land that was readily viable (Mella 266). The availability of money is also an issue that is evident, underlying many of the topics that Castro discusses in his writing History Will Absolve Me.

The time of the Cuban Revolution was a great deal of turmoil, not just in Cuba but in almost every corner of the world. It was 1945, shortly after the end of World War Two, and the Cold War was taking off between the United States and the Soviet Union. Cuba, in the middle of its own war, was caught up in the international politics of the Cold War. The interaction between international and domestic politics played a major role in the outcome of the revolution. The result of the revolution left Fidel Castro in charge of Cuba.

Cuba had partaken in globalization through its interactions with the USSR and the US. Cuba was a developing country and needed support to eventually be able to rely on itself. After the collapse of the USSR, Cuba was one of the only socialist