In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

Consider the hurricane stories the narrator tells in the story of the same name. How do they explore the function of storytelling? Use specific examples from other stories in your discussion.

Why does Matilde stay up all night baking desserts until she uses up all the bananas?

In “Baseball Dreams,” Mirta says of her father, “If only baseball had held him like a tender parent. How different it all would be. He would have come to see me on the beach that day. He would have married my mother” (83). What would have been different for her father? For her mother? For Mirta herself?

Why do the family members driven crazy by the “old uncle in Havana” in “Miami Relatives” act in the specific ways that they do? Why does the narrator talk to the portrait of the old uncle? What conclusion does the allegory want us to draw about the relationship between the family and the uncle?

Ernesto finds comfort from a memory of himself and Joaquin as young friends before the revolution: “this is the image that Ernesto rubs like an amulet against the others” (110). Why does he hold on to this “amulet”? What he is warding himself against and why? Where else in the collection do characters express similar sentiments or perform similar mental activities? Use at least two additional examples in your discussion.

Menéndez often jumps back and forth in time within a single story, alternating between a character’s present and past. Using specific examples, examine how this stylistic technique contributes to the development of character or of the collection’s themes.

What does Ernesto mean when he expresses weariness at “all the layers in a sentence, the phrases that live only to conceal” (120)? How does this fatigue relate to the collection’s theme of memory, truth, and storytelling? Draw on at least two other stories in your discussion.

What does Lisette hope to find when she travels to Cuba, and why does her mother warn her against looking for anything there? Does she find what she has been looking for? Support your answer with at specific examples from “Her Mother’s House.”