Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
This project examines how trauma, memory, and political displacement shape generational identity in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban. I argue that García presents memory as both a bridge and a barrier within the matrilineal line of Celia, Lourdes, and Pilar, ultimately suggesting that reconciliation across political and cultural divides is possible only through acknowledgment rather than suppression of inherited trauma. While Celia’s devotion to the Cuban Revolution and her nostalgic attachment to lost love root her identity firmly in the past, Lourdes responds to revolutionary violence and exile by rejecting her heritage and embracing American capitalism as a form of protection. Pilar, caught between these polarized perspectives, becomes the novel’s mediating force, using art to reconcile fragmented cultural identities.
Drawing on trauma theory and scholarship on diaspora and matrilineal identity, this study situates García’s novel within broader conversations about exile literature, intergenerational trauma, and cultural memory. Through close textual analysis of key passages and engagement with secondary literary criticism, this research traces how political allegiance, exile, and silence fracture familial bonds across generations. The project contributes to discussions of transnational identity formation and demonstrates how literature offers a framework for understanding cultural displacement.
Mother-Daughter Ties Across Borders: Identity and Connection in Dreaming in Cuban
Textual or Investigative
This project examines how trauma, memory, and political displacement shape generational identity in Cristina García's Dreaming in Cuban. I argue that García presents memory as both a bridge and a barrier within the matrilineal line of Celia, Lourdes, and Pilar, ultimately suggesting that reconciliation across political and cultural divides is possible only through acknowledgment rather than suppression of inherited trauma. While Celia’s devotion to the Cuban Revolution and her nostalgic attachment to lost love root her identity firmly in the past, Lourdes responds to revolutionary violence and exile by rejecting her heritage and embracing American capitalism as a form of protection. Pilar, caught between these polarized perspectives, becomes the novel’s mediating force, using art to reconcile fragmented cultural identities.
Drawing on trauma theory and scholarship on diaspora and matrilineal identity, this study situates García’s novel within broader conversations about exile literature, intergenerational trauma, and cultural memory. Through close textual analysis of key passages and engagement with secondary literary criticism, this research traces how political allegiance, exile, and silence fracture familial bonds across generations. The project contributes to discussions of transnational identity formation and demonstrates how literature offers a framework for understanding cultural displacement.
