Throughout this project, I learned a little bit more about my culture. I have never been to Cuba. I’ve never met my Cuban relatives there. I do interact with my Cuban relatives, but not as often as I’d like to, especially now. I don’t have the opportunity to connect with my relatives right now, so reading about my culture was a nice way to bridge the gap, for now. Although these books are fiction, they do give insight on Cuban culture. These books were teaching me more about sentiments of Cuban exile, the arduous transition of fleeing to America as a Cuban, and how native Cubans feel about Cuba’s government. The readings and her paintings were able to help me reflect more about Cuba and how the Revolution affected its people and way of life. Also, it shows how not every Cuban has experienced the Revolution and its aftermath the same and how many experience exile differently. I feel more connected to the Cuban side of me and I’m glad she wrote these books for a Hispanic audience. She uses Spanish words and phrases that are relatable and nostalgic to me. Lastly, I like how each of her works is versatile, but expresses the same themes from different perspectives. Garcia writes poetically as well, which is nice to read. She uses the poetic way of writing to express the themes she’s exploring. For many characters, I was able to picture them and I can easily see these characters being real. For example, Goyo was one of the main characters in King of Cuba. He is an exile in his old age and reflects on his life back in Cuba. He claims his main goal in life is to not die before Fidel Castro. He feels strongly about this because he wants to outlive his nemesis since Castro has caused much suffering for him in his life. Both King of Cuba and Dreaming in Cuban have helped me to reflect about these sentiments, and many more themes explored in these books.
For my slides, I decided to focus on some topics like machismo and nostalgia. Her books and artwork cover many themes within the Hispanic community, but I had to shorten it. Overall, I enjoyed tweaking and putting final touches on my project. Can’t wait to share it! 🙂
Here is the link to my presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1H1FxrdkHwoqwuLSDcjpFUcWV9fUmMVaWPC_ZSxGD0GI/edit?usp=sharing
Carolina's Blog 