Analysis Of Dreaming In Cuban By Christina Garcia

Dreaming in Cuban written by Cristina Garcia is a novel that focuses on three generations within one family, mainly the females that are facing consequences during the Cuban Revolution. The novel is centered on the main character Celia Del Pino, her daughters Lourdes and Felicia, and granddaughter Pilar. Her experiences, memories, and dreams shape the lives and her relationships with the other members of the Del Pino family. Throughout the entire novel, Garcia explores family connections, differences in politics, and exile. One of the most important experiences of rupture that Celia, as the main character, encounters is her relationship with her first-born daughter, Lourdes. Due to their different outlooks on life, mainly on politics, Celia

She was forced to marry him because her first love Gustavo fled to Spain. Jorge mistreated Celia, left her, and sent her to live with his mother and sister who terrorized Celia. When Celia got impregnated by Jorge and birthed Lourdes, she vowed to never remember Lourdes name. Celia disregards the reality of having a child, or her marriage to Jorge. She refuses to accept the her role as a mother and treats Lourdes more like an object than a daughter. Because the Del Pino women are gifted with being able to read others thoughts and communicate through dreams, Lourdes never forgives her mother for this and hence always despises Celia. Lourdes experience with her mother’s resistance is also shown with her daughter Pilar. Celia lost her contact with Lourdes when she made the decision to leave Cuba for America; taking her daughter Pilar, the only person Celia had a real connection with. This scarred Celia, but it also allowed her to communicate through dreams with Pilar and share the love of Cuba that Lourdes never experienced. In the beginning of the novel, Celia’s relationships with her family is so bad that “Celia cannot decide which is worse, separation or death. Separation is familiar, too familiar, but Celia is uncertain she can reconcile it with permanence” (Garcia 6). This quote explains her damaged and unfixable relationship with her