Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings

Part 4 of the narrative represents an intense period of growth and development that centers around trauma. The author creates an atmosphere of confusion and isolation to evoke a mood of disillusionment, resentment, and unhappiness symbolic of the author’s adolescent attempts to find acceptance within herself and amongst her peers. For example, Poems 1 and 2 represent a period of calm before the storm of events that follow. In “Faraway Gift,” the author receives news of a colt that awaits her return to Cuba. She describes the horse in the picture that she receives with this news in the following passage:

Mythical. Prophetic.

An oracle colt who foresees

my future as a trainer,

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Maybe even a winged

Centaur (121).

Her description includes more references to mythical and magical creatures, developing the connections between horses and magical imagery. This foreshadows the final transition from Cuba to horses as the main symbol of the author’s poetic and imaginative inspiration in the Enchantment, Wings, and Flight motif and the Pastoral Imagery and Magical Nature theme. The atmosphere remains hopeful in these poems.

The mood changes abruptly in “Out of Reach” when diplomatic relations break down and result in a travel ban that means “[no] visit, no farm, no horse, / no winged centaur” (121). The final line in this passage is a symbol of the emotional toll of this news upon the author, who parallels the loss of Cuba as a loss of her future and dreams as well as her family. This suggests the reference to the colt as an oracle, a prophetic symbol of the future, represents disillusionment in Part 4 and healing in Part 5 when horses return as a symbol of poetic inspiration.

The author creates an atmosphere of cultural oppression that alludes to earlier poems like “Hidden,” evoking a sense of finality as well. In “Some Things Should Never Change,” the family begins to refer to Mami as Mom while Dad remains Dad. This hints at the inequity of the situation and establishes early feelings of resentment, evoking a mood like the mood in Part 1 when the family was persecuted by the government for their connections to Cuba. The author creates additional intratextual repetitions between these sections by including several poems that end in questions to develop the atmosphere of confusion. Unlike the author’s questions in Part 1, the author eventually accepts these questions have no clear answer in poems such as “Wondering” and “Three Sides to Every Story.” This development highlights the transition from contrasts between American/Cuban family and American/Cuban politics and capitalism/communism within the Cultural Dichotomy and Belonging theme, an important indication of the author’s developing point of view.

The cultural context becomes more significant during the years 1961 through 1964, reaching the point of crisis, the climax of the narrative that shapes the conclusion of the author’s memoir and symbolic journey. The author describes the Bay of Pigs in “April 1962” and the beginnings of the Cuban Missile Crisis in “October 1962,” noting that “US spy planes have photographed / Soviet Russian nuclear weapons / in Cuba” (137). The author relies upon stark facts without figurative language in poems that reference dates in the titles. These two poems become central to the mood of disillusionment. They lead to momentary reflections upon Cuba’s culpability as a nation within the conflict that foreshadow the author’s mature perspective of acceptance in Part 5.

Part 4 also depicts an atmosphere of adolescent struggle, rebellion, and isolation that complicates this period of social unrest. These poems contrast the global context and cultural dichotomy with desperate attempts to find acceptance and belonging in everyday life amongst peers that are years older than the author. In “Strays,” the author describes her continuing isolation amongst peers. She compares herself to a stray cat that she brings home, a symbol of the isolation she feels. Her parents remain unaware of the stray cat, alluding to imagery in later poems within Part 4 when the author describes herself as invisible. “Junior High” through “Solitude” all depict an increasing desperation to fit in amongst peers that are physically and emotionally more mature than the author. The author falls in with troublemakers, girls that smoke, do drugs, and have sex. She contrasts this with her modesty and innocence before drastically changing her appearance and behavior. This leads to suspensions in school and a first kiss with a boy much older that traumatizes the author.

The author parallels this trauma with several poems that create an atmosphere of horror as the author waits for death and nuclear war. Unlike other poems that reference important historical events from the Cold War, the several poems that contextualize the Cuban Missile Crisis as the author experiences it do not include dates. Poems like “More Dangerous Air,” “Waiting to Die,” “Wondering,” and “Imagining” provide the most basic facts of the two weeks that make up the crisis and instead focus on the emotional response of the author. The poems use simple sentences and stark language to evoke a sense of shock and horror and avoids imagery, maintaining an intense focus on the reality of the situation she faced.

Dual depictions of struggle at home and in international relations continue to develop the motif Storytelling and Poetry that compare books and poetry with refuge. In “My Library Life,” the author adds that “[reading] keeps [her] hopeful” (129), a moment of lightness in an otherwise bleak atmosphere. The contrast in atmosphere between “My Library Life” and the other poems in Part 4 highlights disillusionment as the dominant mood.

The author parallels “My Library Life” with poems such as “Waiting to Understand” and “Survival” that establish Part 4 as a period of growth and survival and foreshadow the healing that occurs in Part 5.

Part 4 concludes with poems that describe America’s cultural response to the crisis as attempts to avoid discussion. Cuba becomes invisible like the symbolic, invisible twin of the author left behind in Part 3. This results in a building resentment and the author’s attempts to make sense of events in the poem “My Own History.”

“Ghostly” and “Communication” highlight the impact of these events and this new reality on the author’s Cuban family. Her mother chooses to become a ghost and remain stateless in support of her family, a decision the author describes as brave. She describes her Abuelita in similar terms as she sends letters with updates about the family to her mother. “Communication” represents the author’s acceptance that Cuba is no more idyll than the US as her family suffers persecution and violence under Cuban tyranny.

Despite the darkness and disillusionment of Part 4, “Strange Sky” concludes on a hopeful note as the family begins to make small excursions together and begin a process of recovery and healing. The author alludes to this process in “Revived,” using the symbol of the plants her mother nurtures back to health as a metaphor.