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A review by notesfrommimi
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina García
3.0
Readers find connections or lack of connections through lenses. You cannot comprehend oppression, privilege, or feelings towards migration, without having experienced it directly, or through text. Diverse, worldly texts are essential, unique pieces of world literature that give you a new lens for looking at other text or the world. By looking at these texts together, you can see the overlap and/or conflict in certain views and styles. Christina Garcia in Dreaming in Cuban and Jamaica Kincaid in My Brother use multiple characters to exemplify diverse, worldly peoples perspectives on migration, concluding defining an universal immigration experience is futile because of human’s unique experiences paired with multidimensional and inconsistent emotions. Instead, each text adds to the universal experience.
Dreaming in Cuban, a story of a family during the Cuban revolution in 1959, rise of the Santeria religious syncretism, and 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, follows Pilar Puente. Despite living in America, Pilar feels detached from America and her mother, and drawn to her grandmother in Cuba. However once Pilar visited Cuba, she saw the suffering and decaying state of the country under El Lider’s reign and realized that her nostalgic feelings romanticized her view. In contrast, for Pilar’s mother, Lourdes’, America was a place where she could build herself up from scratch. She “considers herself lucky,” as immigration has reinvented her.
My Brother, a memoir by Jamaica Kincaid, outlines her family relationships and feelings during her brother’s diagnosis, treatment, and death from AIDS. Kincaid’s brother Devon made Antigua his home even though his country is not accepting of who he is, a male homosexual. Kincaid finds that she’s not too different from her brother, as Antigua is also not accepting of her profession. If it were up to Kincaid’s mother, Kincaid “would have ended up with ten children by ten different men” (134). Kincaid immigrated to the United States, to pursue writing. Her migration allowed her to be herself, while her brother is stuck living under and oppressed social order. The vertical social order allowed people who were above homosexuals on the socially constructed scale to be justified in their oppressive treatment towards them, explaining the lack of medication provided for his condition, and why he was not open about his sexual preference- even with his family.
Each individual has different complex emotions towards immigration. Pilar used it as a angsty teenage escape and closure needed to assimilate in America. Lourdes used it as a rebirth from her abusive mother-daughter relationship, rape, and loss of a child. Kincaid also used migration to leave a strained mother-daughter relationship, and to pursue her American Dream. Devon migrated to an establishment to freely show interest in men. Each experience is unique, yet illuminate each other through lenses. Reading one experience helps the reader better understand the others experience. For example, Pilar’s experience helps one see the point of view of an immigrant living in a somewhat xenophobic country, while Devon’s experience gives a perspective of a homosexual living in a homophobic country.
Although both texts provide examples of feelings towards migration, it is important to note that they do so in different ways. Dreaming in Cuban is a novel, with fictionalized perspective, while My Brother is a memoir, with autobiographical prospective. One might think memoirs contain more truth because of their raw nature. The memoir alone may not cover the thoughts of migration effectively or completely. Characters can be conduits to the authors soul, or fabrication from the mind. Sometimes fictional novels even delve deeper than memoirs. Since the characters are not the author, they have more freedom to express controversial emotions. Moreover, fictional stories may reveal truth better than nonfictional. Dreaming in Cuban uses a variety of senses to portray life over facts. It even goes further than normal senses, by using magical realism. The family members see the world differently than the others- especially in regards to magic. Pilar and her grandmother communicated through telepathy. Lourdes and her father communicated even though her father was dead. Perhaps, you need a multitude of types of text and points of views to get a fuller understanding of the universal experience attached to migration.
Humans are complex, and receiving one narrative restricts our view of certain demographics. By looking at multiple text it becomes apparent of the multiple feelings that individuals hold- especially in regards to migration. The variety of style and perspectives humanizes people and stops the stereotyping stemming from a “single story.” Text inhibits the concept of universality when taken alone. Thus, the multiple worldly characters perspectives in Dreaming in Cuban and My Brother adds to the universal experience of migration.
Dreaming in Cuban, a story of a family during the Cuban revolution in 1959, rise of the Santeria religious syncretism, and 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, follows Pilar Puente. Despite living in America, Pilar feels detached from America and her mother, and drawn to her grandmother in Cuba. However once Pilar visited Cuba, she saw the suffering and decaying state of the country under El Lider’s reign and realized that her nostalgic feelings romanticized her view. In contrast, for Pilar’s mother, Lourdes’, America was a place where she could build herself up from scratch. She “considers herself lucky,” as immigration has reinvented her.
My Brother, a memoir by Jamaica Kincaid, outlines her family relationships and feelings during her brother’s diagnosis, treatment, and death from AIDS. Kincaid’s brother Devon made Antigua his home even though his country is not accepting of who he is, a male homosexual. Kincaid finds that she’s not too different from her brother, as Antigua is also not accepting of her profession. If it were up to Kincaid’s mother, Kincaid “would have ended up with ten children by ten different men” (134). Kincaid immigrated to the United States, to pursue writing. Her migration allowed her to be herself, while her brother is stuck living under and oppressed social order. The vertical social order allowed people who were above homosexuals on the socially constructed scale to be justified in their oppressive treatment towards them, explaining the lack of medication provided for his condition, and why he was not open about his sexual preference- even with his family.
Each individual has different complex emotions towards immigration. Pilar used it as a angsty teenage escape and closure needed to assimilate in America. Lourdes used it as a rebirth from her abusive mother-daughter relationship, rape, and loss of a child. Kincaid also used migration to leave a strained mother-daughter relationship, and to pursue her American Dream. Devon migrated to an establishment to freely show interest in men. Each experience is unique, yet illuminate each other through lenses. Reading one experience helps the reader better understand the others experience. For example, Pilar’s experience helps one see the point of view of an immigrant living in a somewhat xenophobic country, while Devon’s experience gives a perspective of a homosexual living in a homophobic country.
Although both texts provide examples of feelings towards migration, it is important to note that they do so in different ways. Dreaming in Cuban is a novel, with fictionalized perspective, while My Brother is a memoir, with autobiographical prospective. One might think memoirs contain more truth because of their raw nature. The memoir alone may not cover the thoughts of migration effectively or completely. Characters can be conduits to the authors soul, or fabrication from the mind. Sometimes fictional novels even delve deeper than memoirs. Since the characters are not the author, they have more freedom to express controversial emotions. Moreover, fictional stories may reveal truth better than nonfictional. Dreaming in Cuban uses a variety of senses to portray life over facts. It even goes further than normal senses, by using magical realism. The family members see the world differently than the others- especially in regards to magic. Pilar and her grandmother communicated through telepathy. Lourdes and her father communicated even though her father was dead. Perhaps, you need a multitude of types of text and points of views to get a fuller understanding of the universal experience attached to migration.
Humans are complex, and receiving one narrative restricts our view of certain demographics. By looking at multiple text it becomes apparent of the multiple feelings that individuals hold- especially in regards to migration. The variety of style and perspectives humanizes people and stops the stereotyping stemming from a “single story.” Text inhibits the concept of universality when taken alone. Thus, the multiple worldly characters perspectives in Dreaming in Cuban and My Brother adds to the universal experience of migration.