A Cup of Water Under My Bed: A Memoir by Daisy Hernandez
Daisy Hernandez, a Cuban-Colombian, depicts her life challenges in the memoir “A Cup of Water Under My Bed.” Her mother grew up in poverty in Colombia, her father in Cuba. She was born in the United States, where she lives in Northern New Jersey with her parents, sister, and aunts. As a young child, Hernandez blamed her Hispanic culture for the injustices she faced including how she was looked at differently by her Caucasian teachers, her limited English vocabulary, and the long hours her mom had to work at a factory. She wants to convince herself that she is like her Caucasian teachers— with “no history, no past, and no culture.” To do so, she felt that she must abandon Spanish entirely …show more content…
These conversations ideally consisted of staying far away from Colombian men and getting as close as possible to a White American. Their hopes fell short when she falls in love with Julio, a Colombian man, and Hernandez, essentially, resents her family for looking down on him. Their relationship, unfortunately, falls apart when new possibilities are revealed—the idea that a woman can date another woman. Hernandez writes that “two women in love confirms for me that there is a love beyond what everyone else says is possible.” As time goes on she mentions to her mother that she has not dated a guy in while and that she instead had been dating women, leaving her mother speechless and mimicking the Virgin Mary pose. She tries to explain Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT), feminist, and women’s rights movements in hopes of providing a foundation for understanding but instead her aunts accuse her of trying to kill her mother, as she hyperventilates, crying that such instances do not happen in Colombia. One of her aunts, Tia Dora even stops talking to her out of fear of her reputation and what others might say, ironically resurfacing seven years later when she dates a man again. Not only did Hernandez not have her family’s support but society, too, was not accepting of anything outside of heterosexual relationships. As a bisexual female, this social issue put Hernandez at …show more content…
She hated the idea of people dictating how others ought to live their lives. She reflects on telling her father how she aspired to become writer. He replied saying “you’re toasted,” in Spanish, meaning the she was crazy. Hernandez landed her first job at McDonald’s when she was 15, using her first check to buy lipstick in effort to make her feel better about the race and class injustices she faced daily. Financial hardships soon arose, leading to more stress. Her mother would tell her “Don’t drown yourself in a cup of water,” meaning to not sweat the small stuff, and would place a cup of water under her bed to collect “shards from bad dreams” and negative thoughts/feelings. After college, Hernandez is given an opportunity to write about feminism for Ms. Magazine as an intern at the New York Times. Revisiting her father’s initial reaction, she views herself as now living a life she never imagined and feeling
Daisy Hernandez, a Cuban-Colombian, depicts her life challenges in the memoir “A Cup of Water Under My Bed.” Her mother grew up in poverty in Colombia, her father in Cuba. She was born in the United States, where she lives in Northern New Jersey with her parents, sister, and aunts. As a young child, Hernandez blamed her Hispanic culture for the injustices she faced including how she was looked at differently by her Caucasian teachers, her limited English vocabulary, and the long hours her mom had to work at a factory. She wants to convince herself that she is like her Caucasian teachers— with “no history, no past, and no culture.” To do so, she felt that she must abandon Spanish entirely …show more content…
These conversations ideally consisted of staying far away from Colombian men and getting as close as possible to a White American. Their hopes fell short when she falls in love with Julio, a Colombian man, and Hernandez, essentially, resents her family for looking down on him. Their relationship, unfortunately, falls apart when new possibilities are revealed—the idea that a woman can date another woman. Hernandez writes that “two women in love confirms for me that there is a love beyond what everyone else says is possible.” As time goes on she mentions to her mother that she has not dated a guy in while and that she instead had been dating women, leaving her mother speechless and mimicking the Virgin Mary pose. She tries to explain Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender (LGBT), feminist, and women’s rights movements in hopes of providing a foundation for understanding but instead her aunts accuse her of trying to kill her mother, as she hyperventilates, crying that such instances do not happen in Colombia. One of her aunts, Tia Dora even stops talking to her out of fear of her reputation and what others might say, ironically resurfacing seven years later when she dates a man again. Not only did Hernandez not have her family’s support but society, too, was not accepting of anything outside of heterosexual relationships. As a bisexual female, this social issue put Hernandez at …show more content…
She hated the idea of people dictating how others ought to live their lives. She reflects on telling her father how she aspired to become writer. He replied saying “you’re toasted,” in Spanish, meaning the she was crazy. Hernandez landed her first job at McDonald’s when she was 15, using her first check to buy lipstick in effort to make her feel better about the race and class injustices she faced daily. Financial hardships soon arose, leading to more stress. Her mother would tell her “Don’t drown yourself in a cup of water,” meaning to not sweat the small stuff, and would place a cup of water under her bed to collect “shards from bad dreams” and negative thoughts/feelings. After college, Hernandez is given an opportunity to write about feminism for Ms. Magazine as an intern at the New York Times. Revisiting her father’s initial reaction, she views herself as now living a life she never imagined and feeling