Letters from Cuba

Esther’s letters to Malka are an important mental and emotional connection to her absent sister, but they are also a canvas for self-reflection. The letters reveal Esther’s private thoughts, worries, and emotions, as well as record important events in Esther’s new life. Esther’s year of letters documents her personal growth. As Esther writes and reflects, she gains self-knowledge, including confidence and a deeper understanding of her values.

Esther discovers that writing has different uses. Esther’s initial goal with her letters to Malka is to assuage the ache of separation by recording “every interesting thing that happens while [they are] apart so that the hours, weeks, and months [they are] separated won’t seem so painful” (2). Esther sees writing as a means of communication, albeit one-way, commenting that writing will help make their time apart “bearable.” However, Esther quickly recognizes that even though Malka is her audience, she is also writing for herself. Writing is cathartic and helps keep Esther’s hope alive: When Malka arrives but is still emotionally unreachable, Esther continues to write letters to help process her emotions and to enable the sisters to grow closer again. Writing can also heal: Esther urges Malka to write about her feelings, hoping that it will help release her sadness, saying, “I hope that if you can let the paper hold even a bit of it, you will feel better” (221).

The writings of José Martí influence Esther’s writing in several ways. Martí’s poems inspire her to make connections with her own life. They also show her the emotional power of writing. Esther begins to wish she could be a poet like Martí and “write poems that express all [her] feelings—happy and sad and everything in between!” (149). Writing helps Esther recognize changes within herself. As she learns Spanish—helped by reading Martí’s works—she reflects on the power of words and languages, writing, “I wonder if the first language you learn in life will always be the language of your deepest feelings, even if you learn other languages” (148). Esther writes in Yiddish, the language of her homeland and her emotions, but also hopes that “one day [she] would no longer be a refugee and Spanish would slip from [her] tongue as easily as a cubana” (88). In her letters to Malka, Esther includes both Spanish and Yiddish vocabulary. Esther’s reflections on writing and language reveal her appreciation of other cultures and her growing self-confidence.

Even without the need to write to Malka any longer, Esther plans to begin journaling. Writing is now an essential part of Esther’s life, “a necessity for [her]—like water, like air, like sunshine” (221). Through her letters to Malka, Esther has discovered that writing allows her to express her feelings and preserve her memories and brings her solace. She has learned that writing promotes reflection on oneself and the world.