Cristina Garcia's Dreaming In Cuban

In the first chapters of The House of Mirth Wharton establishes various conditions that Lily desires. She is in search of wealth, social prosperity, and marriage. But Lily’s craving for independence is an added aspect that cannot go overlooked. The craving is established early on, in chapter three of the text. Lily is seen longing to, “drop out of the race and make an independent life for herself” but yet knows it would not be a fit lifestyle for her because “she hated dinginess as much as her mother had hated it, and to her last breath she meant to fight

The theme role of women emerges as Minerva 's role in the government comes to surface. Traditional views are challenged throughout the novel as right vs. wrong have different meanings to those urging for change as others struggle to see society as it truly is. As Dede says Why then, Minerva was an enemy of state...What she meant was she didn’t understand until that moment that they were really living—as Minerva liked to say—in a police state.”(Alvarez 164-165) describes not only the effect of the cage on Minerva, yet also the whole Dominican Republic.

This theme is subtly shown throughout the story, but becomes more apparent after the main event, the slaughter. After Date Bed is presumed missing, Mud, despite the fact that she is not of She-S blood, shows concern for her friend and adopted family member throughout the story – “It is just as well that Mud’s thoughts can’t be heard because what she is thinking is, “I’m the one who loves her. None of you loves her as I do,” and the uselessness of her love arouses her to such a pitch of anguish that she thinks of returning to the plain and searching for Date Bed on her own” (Gowdy, 105). The other She-S’s feel the same way as well – She-Snorts states, “I would not go to The Safe Place…knowing that Date Bed might still be alive and lost” (Gowdy, 249). If the She-S’s didn’t care for their family as much, they would have abandoned all thought of Date Bed and wouldn’t bother searching for her.

This caused her to alienate herself since her mother asked her to keep a part of herself hidden from the world by binding her and making sure no one found out she menstruated ealy (Anzaldúa 1983, 221). This will later isolate her further but ultimately lead her to reflect on the racism that surrounds her. In addition, Anzaldúa’s identity also suffer because she denied her heritage and the traditions that with it. She mentions that she felt ashamed of her mother and her loud tendencies, it is an archetype that most Hispanic mothers are loud by nature, and the fact that her lunches, or “lonches”, consisted

However, she was becoming someone else in a dream abandoning her old identity. Her mother was also not happy in America and was wishing to fly to Puerto Rico to reconnect with her roots, but could not do it they were poor. Basically, both stories illustrate the internal conflicts affecting immigrants/individuals living

In the novel Before We Were Free, Julia Alvarez explores the theme of freedom, in more depth, how freedom comes at a cost. The main character, Anita, and her family are forced to leave their country to escape their dictator, Rafael Trujillo, of the Dominican Republic in order to be free. Although, nothing this serious would be executed without a cost. Lucinda, Anita’s older sister, is forced to choose between accepting Turillo’s proposal to be his lover or go to the states and hope for her family to meet her there. Mami says that she doesn’t want her daughter to work as a maid in America, but then Papi cuts her off to say, “Would you prefer she be Mr. Smith’s little querida?

Like them!”(Tan 141-142). Once Tan admits how she feels, the argument quickly dissolves. Tan’s recollections could be taken as seriously, dark , intense or fearful from all the rapid changes in Tan and her mother’s emotions. The relationship that Tan and her mother had situated themselves in differs drastically from Chua and her daughter, Lulu. Tan and her mother carry serious animosity and bitterness towards each other leaving no space for things such as compassion.

The ocean reflects Edna’s process of “awakening” and her increasing urge and attempt to break free from these social conventions as she finally begins to understand her individuality. Edna refuses to fulfill her wifely and motherly duties, she becomes aware of her sexuality as she has has multiple partners, and even moves out of her “house on Esplanade Street” in an attempt to be financially independent (131). All these acts, serve as attempts to escape from the eternal role as a mother and housewife. Freedom, for Edna, is the act of disengaging from obligations towards her husband and children, and the release from social order. In a sense, Edna’s death is due to her failure to balance a sense of self and freedom with the demands of life.

Mary was an unorthodox mother who was often swaying back and forth between the temptation to pursue her selfish endeavor of becoming an artist and her duty as a mother to assume responsibility and support her family. This constant feud resulted in the entire family losing faith in her and becoming distraught. Jeannette’s mother was one of the key factors that contributed in the plan for her and her older sister, Lori to move to New York and start a fresh life there. It was with the realization that the only method in which they can prosper and live a good life was to leave their parents and start a life anew. Jeannette and Lori realized that they must think logically and think about progressing in life although this plan may not comply with the ideal plan of living together as an amalgamated

The same general framework that Said has talked about in his text has become placed on the Haitians living in The Bahamas. It is the stigma of being the other that shapes the everyday lives of Haitian throughout the Bahamas. This prejudice attitude hinders them in society, creating the main challenge, mentioned in the survey responses as the long processing time for citizenship. According to the Department of Immigration, the citizenship process takes two to four weeks, however, one survey respondent said that they had waited two years before they were granted their citizenship papers. In his text, The Haitian Question in the Bahamas Sears suggests that “we must immediately regularize those persons who were born here or have some valid constitutional or legal claim to Bahamian citizenship and integrate them into Bahamian society” (Sears, 10).

This resentment towards their culture most likely stems from the strict rules their parents enforce and the urge the girls feel to “fit in” with American teenagers. Regardless of the efforts to blend into American culture, the girls realize that they do not seem to fully fit the mold of either culture. Specifically in “The Rudy Elmenhurst Story”, Yolanda states that “I saw what a cold, lonely life awaited me in this country. I would never find someone who would understand my peculiar mix of Catholicism and agnosticism, Hispanic and American styles.” (99). This passage is a pivotal moment in Yolanda’s life because it establishes the moment when love no longer has the same meaning as it did before.

Her parents both hold Yolanda back, but also push her forward to make the American dream a reality. Because of this, Yolanda is stuck in the middle. She does not know whether or not she should become completely American, or stick to her roots. She loves when she is called her real name instead of the “bastardized”, American version, but on the other hand, she hates the patriarchy that is part of the Dominican culture (81). The same goes for other many other things.

Essay 3 In her essay, “A Hispanic Garden,” Diaz expresses the inner conflict she faces a foreigner between two lands. As a Cuban immigrant residing in the United States she is obligated to fight a continuous battle with herself and others to preserve her culture within the dominant culture. She explains her feelings when she visits her homeland Cuba. While she is there she is not considered Cuban enough in the same way that she is not considered American enough when she is in the States. Her essay further discusses the battle against injustices that Hispanic women suffer in America.

So, because she does not feel she can have someone who will understand her and not punish her for what happened, she does not speak. Her parent’s behavior toward her and each other make herself feel like she is a disappointment. Her mental state of mind is unstable and is struggling to process what happened to her. When her family and the people around her start pulling her down, she does not feel as strong and confident to stand up for herself and to face her so to speak demons. A perfect example of this is “I open up a paper clip and scratch it across the inside of my left wrist.

In this book it seems that suicide was the only thing Edna had control over and she took it. You see Edna struggle with her role as a mother and wife. The constrictions placed on her left her unhappy. You could see that she wasn 't involved with her children but loved them alot and knew that they would be better off without her. Her ideas of freedom and a new and exciting life don 't go as she planned.