Cristina Garcia is a Cuban-born American writer. Her voice is important in Latin American literature because she writes about the experiences of identity fragmentation for immigrants who are born in a different country and move to the United States—a situation faced by millions of Latin American immigrants living in America. Her novel, Dreaming In Cuban, is similar to the novels of other immigrants of other cultures, like Amy Tan, whose novels often deal with similar themes of displacement, personal and cultural identity, and generation differences among young and old immigrants. Dreaming In Cuban spans a half a century of adventures and experiences of the del Pino family, a family whose members have suffered irrevocable changes as a result of the Cuban revolution. Chief among those changes is fractured identity, and the success and failure of various family members to create an American identity without sacrificing the core values of their Cuban culture. Colors are a significant metaphor throughout the novel for the psychological experiences endured by the del Pino’s, especially blue. Blue represents peace, acceptance of life’s struggles, beauty, nature.
The first chapter is entitled Ocean Blue, and the ocean represents all hues of blue, hues of nature that represent peace, chaos, love, hate, mystery, fear, the unknown and as a reminder of man’s insignificance in the face of nature yet his deep connection to it. When Celia’s husband emerges on the horizon, he is empty handed but his impact on Celia and her recognition of it are all shades and tones of blue, He stops at the ocean’s edge, smiles almost shyly, as if he fears disturbing her, and stretches out a colossal hand. His blue eyes are like lasers in the night. The beams bounce off his fingernails, five hard blue shields. They scan the beach, illuminating shells and sleeping gulls, then focus on her. The porch turns blue, ultraviolet. Her hands, too, a...