A Political Division in a Family

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• A Political Division in a Family

Pablo C. Avila
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Photograph by E. Wright Ledbetter
1999
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(No Transcript)
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Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia
Family Tree
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Our journey begins in Cuba in 1959. Celia is a
grandmother who supports the Cuban Revolution and
sees her family division due to political and
social issues
Her husband travels to the United States selling
electric brooms and portable fans. He later dies
in Brooklyn. After his death, Celia involves in
the cause for the revolution even more,
dedicating most of her time.
Celias daughter, Lourdes, moves to Brooklyn with
her daughter Pilar. There she owns a bakery that
will give the family a good support and a prosper
life in the United States.
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The first conflict within the family
I was sitting in my grandmothers lap . . . When
my mother told her we were leaving the country.
Abuela Celia called her a traitor to the
revolution. Mom tried to pull me away but I clung
to Abuela and screamed at the top of my legs. My
grandfather came running and said, Celia, let
the girl go. She belongs with Lourdes. That was
the last time I saw her. (26)
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Lourdes and Felicia

• Lourdes thinks Cuba is a prison. She is
  constantly asking her mother why she supports the
  revolution. Lourdes does not believe in the
  social change Castro promises since the
  beginning.
• Lourdes constantly shows her anger at the
  revolution. As Pilar says, Can you believe this
  mierda? My mother snatches the picture of El
  Lider off Abuelas night table (219).
• Felicia believes in Santeria, black magic, and
  finally dies in one of those sessions. This fact
  is something Celia never liked. For her, the
  sessions were a kind of poetry that connected
  her to larger worlds, worlds alive and infinite.
  Our rituals healed her, made her believe again
  (186).
• Felicia ends up being possessed by a spirit and
  dies.

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Celia and Pilar A Constant Connection

• Throughout the story, Celia shows a deep feeling
  for the Cuban Revolution.
• Pilar shows a strong connection between herself
  and her Cuban roots when she says, Even thought
  Ive been living in Brooklyn all my life, it
  doesnt feel like home to me. Im not sure Cuba
  is, but I want to find out. If I could only see
  Abuela Celia again, Id know where I belonged
  (58).
• Celia and Pilar are very connected. My
  grandmother is the one who encouraged me to go to
  painting classes (29).
• Celia starts to have a change after her husband
  dies. She starts to involve herself even more in
  the revolution. In 1972, she becomes a civilian
  judge. She is pleased because what she decides
  makes a difference. (111)

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Pilars Grandpa

• After he died, Lourdess father continues to talk
  to her in a different dimension. His spirit is
  coming back and talks to her about different
  things she doesnt know and some others she
  doesnt understand.
• After we married, I left her with my mother and
  my sister. I knew what it would do to her. A part
  of me wanted to punish her. For the Spaniard. I
  tried to kill her, Lourdes . . . I left on a long
  trip after you were born . . . (195).

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Pilar The link between generations

• Pilar finds many ways to make her way to Miami
  and escape to Cuba. She misses her grandmother
  and her Cuban roots as well.
• Pilar is the clear connection with her
  grandmother, not because she believes in the
  revolution as her grandmother, but because she
  loved her Cuban roots.
• This connection is showed throughout the book. I
  feel much more connected to Abuela Celia than to
  Mom, even though I havent seen my grandmother in
  seventeen years. We dont speak at night anymore,
  but shes left me her legacy nonethelessa love
  for the sea . . . (176).

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Final Letter

• The book begins around the 1960s with a
  description of Celias life and her love for the
  sea along the Cuban coast. By the end of the
  book, we still see Celia in one of her letters in
  1959.
• January 11, 1959
• My dearest Gustavo,
• The revolution is eleven days old. My
  granddaughter, Pilar Puente del Pino, was born
  today. It is also my birthday. I am fifty years
  old. I will no longer write to you, mi amor. She
  will remember everything.
• My love always,
• Celia
• (245)

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Pilar

• Pilar seems to represent the center of the story
  because on her, we can see the source of the
  Cuban roots that are finally the main reason to
  reunite the family despite their differences in
  terms of politics.
• Im glad you remember, Pilar. I always knew you
  would (218).

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Important events in Del Pinos family

• Celias Spanish lover. P.36
• Celias letters to Gustavo. P.49
• Lourdes against Fidel Castro. P.177
• Pilars boyfriend. P.179
• Felicia is back to the religionSanteriablack
  magic. P.185
• Last revelations of Lourdess father. P.195
• Pilar as a musician. P.198
• Pilar and her mother is back to Cuba. P.215
• Celias condition decays. P.218

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Why should we read this book?

• Because it demonstrates the difficulties many
  families go through when looking for better
  opportunities.
• It also shows how a girlPilardiscovers her
  Cuban roots and overcomes her difficulties with
  her mother reunifying the family despite their
  political differences.
• Because it not only represents the struggle of
  many Cuban families, but also the struggle many
  families from different countries have when
  looking for better options.
• Finally, it shows how we struggle to find our
  identity. Who we really are and where we come
  from.

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Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia
Publisher Ballantine Books New York,
1992. ImpressiveHer story is about three
generations of Cuban women and their separate
responses to the revolution. Her special feat is
to tell it in a style as warm and gentle as the
sustaining aromas of vanilla and almond, as
rhythmic as the music of Beny Moré. Amelia
Weiss Time
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Cristina Garcia
Cristina Garcia was born in Havana, Cuba, in
1958, and grew up in New York City. She attended
Barnard College and the Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced International Studies. Ms.
Garcia has worked as a correspondent for Time
magazine in San Francisco, Miami, and Los
Angeles, where she currently lives with her
husband, Scott Brown, and their English bulldog.
Dreaming in Cuban is her first novel.
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Works Cited

• Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia. Ballantine
  Books New York, 1992.
• Cuba Picturing Change by E. Wright Ledbetter
• Photographs by E. Wright Ledbetter
• Pablo C. Avila CEP121
• 27 May 2008