Dreaming in Cuban

Lourdes is Celia’s daughter. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Rufino and daughter Pilar. The family left Cuba after their land was appropriated by the government, and Lourdes was violently raped by a government official. Lourdes is markedly anti-communist in her political orientation, has fraught relationships with her mother and her daughter, and is staunchly pro-American and proud of her success as a bakery owner.

Lourdes’s characterization speaks to the theme of The Impact of Political Ideology on Individuals. More than any other character, she has been a victim of the worst aspects of Castro’s regime, because as a young woman, she is sexually assaulted by government officials while they inform her family that their property has been appropriated by the communist government. She and Rufino flee to America with their daughter, Pilar, and from that point on, her anti-communist political orientation remains at the core of her identity. Her business, the Yankee Doodle Bakery, is emblematic of the love and admiration she feels for her newfound country, and she even hosts Cuban dissident meetings in her store. The extent to which she rejects the communist ideology that is so dear to her mother speaks to the theme of Fraught Family Bonds, because the two disagree over politics too deeply to maintain a good relationship.

Yet just as Celia struggles to connect with her, she also struggles to connect with Pilar. As a controlling mother, Lourdes spies on her daughter and does not support her interests. However, her husband Rufino encourages Pilar’s artistic abilities, and the family dynamics parallel the larger family structure that becomes evident across generations, for just as Pilar feels closer to her father than her mother, and so too does Lourdes feel closer to Jorge’s ghost than she does to the still-living Celia. Before Jorge’s death, Lourdes cared for him, and the two continue to “talk” after he passes away. It is from this parental relationship that she derives the most support and feels the most love.

Although Lourdes is not always a sympathetic character, her parental shortcomings are rooted in her own childhood trauma and in the pain of exile. During Lourdes’s youth, Celia was not always a healthy presence in the life of her children, and Lourdes grew up without a traditional maternal influence. Although she is happy to be in America, she does miss the social position she held in Cuba, and she cannot help but remember that she was treated better in her home country than she is in the United States. In many ways, she is a foil for Celia because the two diverge in multiple areas. Cristina García wants her readers to understand that the Cuban diaspora is vast and contains many stories, and that Cuban identity takes different forms, even for members of the same family.

Felica is Celia’s daughter and Lourdes’s sister. She remained in Cuba after the revolution rather than emigrating to America. She is characterized primarily through her periods of mental illness, her fraught family relationships, her anti-communist ideology, and her devotion to Santería.

Felicia struggles with to maintain her mental health, and this difficulty is the most obvious during her infamous “summer of coconuts,” in which she eventually attempts to die by suicide and murder her son as well. However, it is important to note that García’s representation of Felicia should be read through the lens of magical realism rather than as a straightforward depiction of mental health conditions. This aspect of the novel is steeped in a tradition of writing in which the now-defunct term of “madness” denotes a surface-level sign of deeper generational, historical, or cultural trauma. While this kind of representation might feel out of step with contemporary understandings of mental health and wellness, it is not out of place within Latin American writing as a genre. Felicia’s struggle with mental health mirrors her mother’s own difficulties with mental health and parenting, and although the two characters are divided by their politics, they are similar in their inability to focus the bulk of their energy on their children. In this way, both characters highlight the theme of Fraught Family Bonds.

Felicia shares her sister’s anti-communist beliefs, and this dynamic is best observed during the military service that Celia imposes upon her daughter in hopes that it will somehow “cure” her of her difficulties. Felicia, like Lourdes, sees hypocrisy in the communist regime and speaks with her fellow guerillas about issues of political repression, poverty, food shortages, and the divisions present within families. For her, Cuban identity is located less in communist ideology and more within the Afro-Caribbean tradition of Santería, to which she becomes increasingly devoted as the story progresses. She feels an affinity for Yemayá, the Orisha often associated with the sea and with divine motherhood. Although Celia does not agree with her daughter’s spiritual beliefs, she complies with Felicia’s dying wish to be buried in the white clothing of a santera.

Pilar is Lourdes’s daughter. She is a talented artist who loves the New York punk scene and has a better relationship with her father than with her mother. She ultimately comes to find a sense of Cuban identity through Santería and through her visit to Cuba. Pilar is a teenager when the narrative begins, and in the first scene that features her, she is attempting to run away to Cuba. Although she feels more American than Cuban, she is curious about her homeland and wants to spend time with her grandmother, Celia. Pilar is a gifted artist, but Lourdes does not initially support her artistic endeavors. When Lourdes commissions a “patriotic” mural from her daughter and Lourdes responds by painting a controversial “punk rock” Statue of Liberty, Lourdes finally defends her daughter when neighborhood residents object to the mural’s theme.

While Pilar and Lourdes often clash, Pilar and her father Rufino are closely bonded, and their relationship both excludes Lourdes and reflects Lourdes’s own preference for her father over her mother. Pilar and Lourdes clash because Lourdes is a controlling and sometimes disrespectful mother. The two argue and disagree, and Pilar is interested in everything that Lourdes opposes: Cuba, communism, and Celia. Celia’s spirit visits Pilar, and thus Pilar maintains a sense of connection to her grandmother even in exile.

Although Pilar grows up without a distinct sense of Cuban identity, she grows curious about Cuba as she ages, and she develops as sense of Cubanidad through Santería. She is drawn to Chángo, an Orisha aptly known for his stormy personality and his association with lightning, thunder, and music. Pilar is musically gifted and explores her ability in tandem with her exploration of Santería. It is through her devotion to Chángo that she decides to visit Cuba, and it is at her suggestion that she and Lourdes travel there to see Celia. In Cuba, Lourdes feels distinctly uncomfortable, but Pilar finds a sense of home through her renewed connection to Celia.

Jorge is Celia’s husband and the father to Lourdes and Felicia. He is characterized primarily through his relationships with his wife and daughters and through his anti-communist political stance. Jorge marries Celia while she has depression and is in love with Gustavo. The novel never explains his attraction to Celia or his willingness to marry a woman who is so obviously pining for another man. Although he loves Celia, he resents her for her inability to forget Gustavo, and this causes him to leave her with his spiteful mother and sister and then to have her committed to a psychiatric institution. He is thus a complex character who is defined both by his love for his wife and by the role that he plays in her unhappiness and mental health challenges.

His relationship with his daughter Lourdes is much more straightforward, and the two share a bond that outlasts his life, for his spirit visits her even after his death to offer comfort, support, and advice. He provides Lourdes with the love that she has never been able to get from Celia, and the two share the healthiest, most complete familial bond in the novel. They also share a political ideology that places them in opposition to Celia and Javier. Jorge worked for an American firm before the revolution, and he remains dedicated to the American ideal of capitalism throughout his life. Although he remains with Celia after the revolution, he ultimately leaves Cuba so that he can receive better treatment for cancer in New York.