In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd

In “The Perfect Fruit,” Matilde becomes obsessed with ridding her yard of bananas, staying up all night to bake an array of banana-based desserts to use up every last banana. The bananas are a symbol of overwhelming events outside Matilde’s control—and that she refuses to be defeated by chaos.

When she arrived in America as a young woman, Matilde was a new mother struggling with a new role, new country and language, and, the narrative implies, an unfaithful husband. Cooking for her son Anselmo became her solace and escape. As the story begins, Anselmo has asked to bring his American girlfriend Meegan to his parents’ house so they can announce something (most like their engagement, as the story “The Last Rescue” shows Anselmo and Meegan married). The coming dinner unsettles Matilde, who recognizes that she is gradually losing influence over Anselmo.

The bananas that are taking over the yard add to her anxiety. Her husband Raúl planted banana trees without asking her, an action that represents his lack of regard for her feelings in general (evidenced through his extramarital affairs). The overgrown bananas disrupt Matilde’s peace of mind and amplifying her loss of control. She worries that they will rot on the trees and spoil her yard when she wants to impress Meegan.

At the end of the story, she has baked for two days straight, producing every possible variation of banana-based baked good. Hearing Anselmo and Meegan pull into their driveway, Raúl frets about what they will serve for dinner since they only have dessert. Earlier in the story, Matilde felt a thrill of pleasure when she noticed signs that Raúl is aging. Now, she places a pie in front of Raúl telling him, “Please eat […]. I made it just for you” (51). This statement signifies that she has transferred her obsessive control from Anselmo to Raúl. In the larger context, her anxiety and need for control speak to the struggle of characters throughout the collection as they invent and reinvent themselves in relation to a larger event outside of their control: political and economic turmoil in Cuba, from Batista through Castro.

Though several of the stories feature magical realist and allegorical elements, Menéndez lends verisimilitude to her stories by incorporating real-life Cuban landmarks, such as Vedado Tennis Club and La Concha beach. Moncada, where Hortencia in “Story of a Parrot” imagines herself singing, was the military barracks where the Cuban revolution is said to have begun with an attack staged and led by Fidel Castro. By incorporating both real places and fantastical elements, Menéndez illuminates the point made by the narrator of “Hurricane Stories,” that something “could be true and never have happened” (33).