Patrick Symmes Summary

In which, she describes the degree of difficulty her Uncle endured, to receive a visa to leave Cuba and work elsewhere and raise his family. He uncle was forced to endure harsh circumstances as described in the memoir such as; “being forced to work ten hours a day planting, tending, and eventually cutting sugarcane. For lunch, he would often eat just a mango and swallow a fistful of sugar to boost his energy. Evening meals in the mess hall usually consisted of watery soup made from cow bones that hung from the kitchen’s ceiling and were recycled night after night.” This speaks to the dedication and determination that her uncle had to be in a better position and place to build his family and escape the seemingly tyrannical reign of Fidel Castro. According to Mirta, his once fine hands, that were capable of shuffling papers and operating calculators, were reduced to rough, callused, and swollen appendages. At the risk of losing the visa, the very thing he had been fighting for, he continued throughout and despite these conditions for three years, in order to be able to provide his family with opportunities in America, being able to buy a house in Miami for his wife and two kids. The fruits of America seemed to be convicting enough for her uncle to sail to Cuba to get Mirta and her

In addition to, some of the differences of the U.S. and Cuba cultures are unambiguous. However, the Americans value plenty of luxuries, where as Cubans do without; nevertheless, one of the moral qualities of happiness cannot be built

Viewing her mothers’ breast as a resource of nourishment, Hogan’s reference to her mothers’ breasts reveals the burden and responsibility her mother carried while caring for her family. Both Hogan’s mother and father reveal not only their role in the family, but the difficulty in fulfilling their family obligations. Through just a glance of their life, Hogan demonstrates the difficulties through a thorough description of her parents and the visible affects that took place in the family. Though Shteyngart takes a different angle in his text “Sixty-Nine Cents”, he likewise shares the hardships of an immigrant life. In love with the idea of America, Shteyngart’s family moved and opened new opportunities. “Even my parents, however, as uncritically in love with America as only immigrants can be, could not resist the iconic pull of Florida, the call of the beach and the Mouse.” (Shteyngart 54). Seizing a long-established American experience, Shteyngart is pulled into an eye-opening encounter that allows him a moment of reflection. of a former life. “The Yugoslav motel was an unquestioned paradise, a lucky coda to a set of difficult lives.” (Shteyngart 54). Remembering his former life, Shteyngart delicately describes a rundown motel as paradise and quickly connects his fortunate end as an alternative. He also takes a moment to recognize his growing fear of the old life always looming just around the corner and still so

The day to day living of Cubans show how they can adapt to their lives regardless of what state it is in. Cuba is a country short of everything. The people of Cuba still exhibit extraordinary resilience and

Louis was living in a three room apartment with his parents and three siblings. The brown, brick apartment stood with broken windows, heated by coal that the family was lacking. In the two bedrooms, the four children huddled under one blanket for heat in the winter months. They did not even own a mattress. Only a cheap rug offered comfort. The only food the family could afford was potatoes which were paid for by Louis’s father selling fresh green vegetables at the local market near where the family lived. Louis, who grew to be ambitious, kind and caring, desired for food, such as poultry and breads and sweet treats, such as chocolate. These were the desires of America he knew he would only get if he actually took the

Cuba, officially known as the Republic of Cuba (which it, most assuredly, is not), is a large island nation located in the northern part of the Caribbean Sea, closer to the United States than Latin America. Historically, Cuba was inhabited by indigenous Americans, of which the Taíno comprised the dominant culture on the island (Dacal Moure and Rivero de la Calle, 1996). From the time of Columbus until 1898, Cuba was governed by Spain, and its agricultural economy relied on the importation of African slaves (Suchlicki, 2002). The people of Cuba are, at this time, an intermixture of these three ethnic groups, though people with lighter colored skin are generally in the higher socioeconomic strata, meaning which in Cuba means either professionals

The topic of race and its impact on the Cuban society has been a subject that has intrigued scholars, writers and researchers since the inception of the country. The Cuban people have seen a tremendous transformation since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, since then the people have seen how socio-economic, cultural foundations and racism has been fought for. Being a communist country Cuba had eliminated the process of private ownership as well as the economic and social bases that countries need to flourish. Throughout history in Cuba you had tend to see that the whites were economically and socially elite to the blacks. They had used racial ideologies and tactics to maintain their domination over the minority groups in Cuba at the time. There have been advancements since the 20th

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There is sufficiency in the world for every man’s need, but not for every man’s greed.” Greed plays a huge part in A Summer Life by Gary Soto, which describes his childhood growing up in the city of Fresno by many vignettes. In the vignette “The Pie” Gary succumbs to his desire for apple pie and steals it, but faces self-torment for doing such a deed. Throughout this vignette, Gary Soto uses biblical allusion, and a unique point of view to show that everyone has greed and acquisitiveness inside them, but those who control it become successful in life.

It also says that shops will have a large range of products, however there are still large shortages of food. Rations are sometimes not even guaranteed to be delivered and if they are they will be very late. In 1991 the grain supply to Cuba from the Soviet Union since it collapsed which also caused the cattle to not be able to be fed. Since they could not feed the cattle all of the products and bi-products were very rare like the milk, beef, and eggs and chicken. Since a lot of the fuel was in a shortage the crops had to be harvested by people which made the production of food slow to crawl. They have improved the production but the shortage is still very common and no they are starting to resort to non-rationed stores and even the black market. The actual food/cuisines of Cuba come from many cultures like the Spanish, Africans and Caribbean, One very small part but slight influence is from the Chinese also. Some of the most popular foods include varieties of meat and rice with black beans. The traditional type of Cuban food can also be called criollo. Some of the most common spices and seasonings used are things like garlic and onion and common ingredients are things like lettuce, pork, eggs and tomatoes and more. One product of Cuba is also Coffee which is normally sold to other places and the coffee that Cubans normally drink are from places like

Cuba’s colorful history can be documented to before the days of the American Revolution in 1776, but today, American policy directly affects many Cubans’ lifestyles because of a nearly 45-year-old trade embargo that has been placed on the island nation. It is crucial to analyze the development of Cuba and its neighboring island nations in order to discern the reasons for Cuba’s current political situation with the United States. The following paper will discuss the events that shaped Cuba and larger Caribbean nations like Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica; next, a detailed description of Cuba’s turbulent history will help in explaining the Cuban transformation into a

Many people believe that the United States is the reason behind why Cuba is so poor and why the people of Cuba are so poor. That’s partially correct. But before the Cuban

My experiences with Cuba are divided into two segments of my life. The first segment was during my eight years of living in Boca Raton, FL which I will refer to the first as the “tangible” segment. The second segment was during my time living in Washington, D.C. prior to Colgate and post Florida. This second stage will be referred to as “information” segment. My reasoning behind these names relates to the ways I experienced Cuban culture at that given period. During my stay in Florida, I was able to see, hear, touch, eat, and experience Cuban culture first hand. While in Washington, D.C., this changed as most of my knowledge based around Cuban culture was taken from movies, video-games, or my general thirst for knowledge from the internet.

Cuba is a unique nation in which it’s culture has been defined as a result of incorporating different customs from various nations over time. Beginning in the 1500s, the Spanish would be the first migrants to inhabit the island. Not only did the Spanish bring their customs along with them, but fifteen years after their arrival they also brought African slaves onto the island. Even through the hardships of slavery and oppression, the African’s maintained practices and preserved aspects of their culture that were eventually incorporated into Cuban culture as a whole. The young nation also saw various nations and ethnicities, such as Haitians and Americans as time progressed. Like their migrant predecessors, these individuals would also

It may seem that they don't make much money. Their prices in Cuba for things are far less than what we have here in the U.S. Like a bottle of coke is a dollar and twenty-two cents in Cuba and in the United States it is a dollar and seventy-five cents. Womens life expectancy in Cuba is 80 years old. Men's life expectancy in Cuba is 70 years old. Kids are required to go to school at least till high school. Uniforms are required at every school and they were different colors for each grade. The literacy rate in Cuba was 99% .Education is free to anyone all the way through the university level. They want everyone to have a chance to learn because most of them would not be able to afford to go to school or college.

Throughout the documentary we see many things wrong with the resources people receive, we see this primarily with money. There are two types of currency in Cuba, peso and cuc, even having certain money makes you more privileged than others. Peso was described as being worth almost nothing that can buy basic necessities such as rice and coffee, while cuc on the other hand is described as more privileged. People with access to this money are able to buy things like shampoo, strollers and handbags; things that everyone should be able to have access to. Having special rights because of money seems to be very common in Cuba, there was a moment in the documentary when the narrator was denied access to one of the best hospitals located in Cuba because he didn’t have enough money, this comes to