Dreaming In Cuban Themes

Themes are essential tools used by authors to convey or sometimes emphasize specific messages in novels. In the two novels that will be compared are Under the Feet of Jesus and Dreaming in Cuban, the authors have embraced their themes to reflect on the messages regarding the bigger picture of migration and adolescence. This paper will offer a comparative thematic analysis of the two texts about migration and adolescence. To achieve this, the paper will focus on two different themes which are communicated by the two texts that are the themes of work and female relationship. Garcia and Viramontes both have incorporated the theme of work as an element expressed in the form of physical labor. The two texts bring out similarities of life that …show more content…
First, Celia’s grandmother is considered the perfect example of what the Cuban socialism group dreamt (Garcia 138). Her hard work and little obsession with work are considerable. Moreover, she portrays what it was with the Intention of other Cubans of working for common good. In this novel, the author depicts the grandmother as one of the members of the family leading the cause of work more in more constraint manner than other members. This is similar to Estrella in the novel Under the Feet of Jesus whose dedications and work is evident even through her natural body. As a result of work which Celia and other laborers had been subjected to support their families in the midst of a dictator El Lider, she starts to think whether what they were subjected to was work or exploitation. However, the primary different in between these two texts are that Viramontes’ character is not forced by family members to work but out of each family understanding of the need to work. On the other hand, some of Garcia’s characters such as Pilars are forced to work. For instance, after Lourdes discovery of the sexual pleasure Pilars had done to herself by use of a shower head, she had to force her work and under hard labor and poor twenty-five cents per hour (Garcia 27). Moreover, despite most of the …show more content…
The two texts consider work to be part of the migrant’s way of life and the only survival mechanism. However, the two texts theme of work differs regarding the willingness family members to work as well as the perceptions of the characters towards work. Furthermore, the texts also change in regard to the relationship between daughters and their mothers. In Under the Feet of Jesus, the author depicts the strong relationship between the mother and daughter, but this reflected a constant struggle between Felicia and Celia as well as between Pilar and Lourdes. Despite sharing these two themes, the author of the two texts seems to differ on various issues about the