Anna In The Tropics

Cheché is Santiago’s half-brother, who made himself known to Santiago as an adult when he arrived at Santiago’s factory witha birth certificate proving he and Santiago have the same Cuban father. Cheché is an outsider, more American than Cuban, and the women in Santiago’s family hold him at a distance. The distance between Chechéand Ofelia and her daughters makes his lasciviousness towards Marela possible, but the familial closeness of his positionmakes it even more of an offense; Chechéis an uncle and in a trusted position, but his assault on Marela proves that he is not so trustworthy after all. Embittered by the loss of his wife, who left him for a lector, Chechéharbors great hostility towards lectors and towards the literature they read to the factory workers, blaming the literature for giving his wife and other women ideas that lead them to abandon their marriages. Chechéis often criticized by Ofelia, who suffers no fools, and he is engaged in a sort of sibling rivalry with Santiago. As the manager of the cigar factory and as a cuckold, Chechéwants to feel he has power, which is why he lends money to Santiago, assaults Marela, and kills Juan Julian in cold blood.  

Married to Santiago, she is the real head of household, despite Santiago’s ostensible role at the factory and his traditional outlook regarding gender roles. She has a close relationship with their daughters, Marela and Conchita. Though she confronts her husband about the damage his drinking and gambling causes the family, Marela suggests at one point in Act II, Scene 3 that Ofelia is actually the parent “who drinks a little too much,” but Ofelia appears to be able to hold her alcohol better than Santiago. Ofelia is a stout advocate for keeping old traditions alive, and she supports Santiago in his opposition to Cheché’sideas to modernize the cigar-rolling process with machines and to stop paying a lector to read to the workers.

Marela still lives at home with her mother and father at twenty-two years of age, and her role within her family is one of mediator, running between her mother and father when they clash. She is a shameless romantic, and still very much an innocent child, as evidenced by her urinating on stage when she meets the handsome and debonair Juan Julian. Marela’s youth and idealism are attractive, and she herself is beautiful, but her beauty works against her when she catches the eye of her half-uncle Cheché, who assaults her after she rebuffs him. Her innocent schoolgirl crush on Juan Julian and her wearing of a costume to emulate Anna Karenina at the factory party enhance Marela’s vulnerable emotions. Marela’s sensitivity makes the violence of Cheché’s attack, which leaves her a damaged shell of her former vibrant self, difficult to bear.

Conchita, thirty-two years old, is married to Palomo, and though her relationship with her husband is fraught, she tends to make light of her own unhappiness. Conchita’s light manner does have an edge, which is revealed in the moments when she confronts Palomo about his infidelity. Conchita still loves him and desires him despite his unfaithfulness, but in order to regain the balance of power in their relationship, she chooses to initiate and enjoy an affair with Juan Julian, the handsome lector from Havana. Conchita’s transformation from a wife trapped in a miserable marriage to a satisfied lover makes her perhaps the most dynamic of all the characters in the play.

Palomo, forty-one years old, is Conchita’s cheating husband, and he worries about money, about the factory, and about other concerns that stem from his in-laws. Santiago’s unreliability puts a strain on him, and his affair furthers strains his marriage; when Palomo offers Conchita a divorce, he recognizes that he is as trapped as she is in their unhappiness. His character is also dynamic, as jealousy transforms him into monster, but ultimately, he reveals to Conchita that he genuinely wants to learn how to love her as she needs to be loved.

Juan Julian, the lector from Cuba is thirty-eight years old, debonair, and extremely attractive. Conchita has an affair with him, while her younger sister, Marela, puts him on a pedestal, and his melodious voice and elegant, poetic way of speaking reflects his education and his passion for literature. His affair with Conchita reveals his sensitive nature and his emotional intelligence, characteristics Conchita wishes for in her husband, Palomo. Juan Julian’s smooth confidence and his attractiveness to Marela inspire hatred and rage in Cheché,who is reminded of the lector who ran away with his wife, Mildred. Cheché murders Juan Julian in cold blood in the last minutes of the play.