Dreaming in Cuban

by Cristina Garcia

Start Free Trial

Student Question

What is the relevance of Celia's letters to Gustavo in Dreaming in Cuban?

Quick answer:

Celia’s letters to Gustavo in Dreaming in Cuban document her experiences within the context of her family’s history and Cuban social transformation. Writing them to a lost lover indicates how deeply she cared for him, because she confides her innermost feelings. It also shows her emotional distance from the people around her and her need to withhold things from them. Her needs change and she stops writing after Pilar’s birth and the success of the 1959 revolution.

Expert Answers

An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

Throughout Dreaming in Cuban, Celia continues to write letters to Gustavo Sierra, a man who vanished in the 1930s. Within a work of fiction, the use of letters to tell a story is called epistolary technique. Writing to a person she loved indicates that Celia’s recorded sentiments are authentic. Because she cared deeply for Gustavo, Celia tells him the truth as she sees it. The letters therefore provide insights into her personality and her inner transformations as she develops a revolutionary consciousness. Because Celia combines passion for social change with romanticism, the vanished Gustavo also overlaps with her vision of Cuba’s new leader, Fidel Castro.

The fact that Celia continued the habit long after it was clear that Gustavo would never reply indicates her attachment to an idea that strongly contrasts with the reality she lives. She had agreed to marry Jorge if Gustavo did not write back,...

Unlock
This Answer Now

Start your 48-hour free trial and get ahead in class. Boost your grades with access to expert answers and top-tier study guides. Thousands of students are already mastering their assignments—don't miss out. Cancel anytime.

Get 48 Hours Free Access

but she never grew to love her husband as she had loved Gustavo. Writing to a phantom rather than communicating with her actual family shows her emotional isolation.

Her habit of writing letters to Gustavo does not end until the revolution succeeds and her granddaughter, Pilar, is born. After almost twenty-five years, at age fifty, Celia willingly divests herself of the self-appointed responsibility of documenting her life experiences—and with them, her family’s history. Turning over the task to her granddaughter indicates her awareness of both the importance and the burden of being the family memory keeper. The personal event of Pilar’s birth occurs after the revolution, which indicates the generational shift in Cuban politics. The fact that the grandmother was a writer also helps explain Pilar’s subsequent writing.

Approved by eNotes Editorial
An illustration of the letter 'A' in a speech bubbles

What is the importance of the letters in Dreaming in Cuban?

"Epistolary" is the literary device of incorporating letters into a text. Celia's letters are addressed to her absent lover who went to Spain. In fact she does not send them. She continues the habit over decades, until age 50, recording events that she deems important as well as personal feelings and reactions to them. The letters thus serve the purpose of chronicling one character's development and giving a personal slant that would be absent if the author used only a detached, third-person narrator. The device also allows for the presence of a chronological organization within a work that has multiple narrative strands, which helps the reader follow the family amidst social and political change. Furthermore, the writing shows this woman's intellect, literacy, and skill as a writer.

Approved by eNotes Editorial