- Read the entire book
- Give a brief summary of it and
- Write a response/reaction to it, placing some of what you write in historical context.
Questions to guide you:
• From a historical perspective: what is the background history of Cuba? Who was Fidel Castro? What was the Mariel Boatlift? What impact did it have on American public life and foreign policy, and what impact did it have, if any, on American policies toward immigrants? (This you can look up in the fau.edu library databases; please cite the URL of your sources in parentheses)
• About the book itself: how do you feel about it? Are there parts of it that you especially like or dislike, or parts that speak to you in a particularly strong way, or places where you feel a particular empathy for Mirta? What were you surprised or struck by? How could you compare you own life experience to Mirta’s?
• Details of the book: What are your impressions of the descriptions she gives of life in Cuba as opposed to life in the U.S.? Why do you think her family wanted so badly to leave? What do you learn about the way the Cuban system works from the book and your background reading, and how do you think it affects the population there, especially young people? What might some say are the good points of the Cuban system of life? What did Fidel Castro do during this period that sent more immigrants to the U.S.? Why were they willing to go through such an experience to leave the country?
• About Mirta: In what way is she conflicted in her feelings? (lovingher native land and wanting to stay vs. wanting to leave; conflicts with her parents; conflicts with what she is taught in school, etc.). What do you think of the way she writes about her family and her relationship with them? What does she write about her feelings concerning the United States?