47 pages • 1 hour read
Chanel CleetonWhen We Left Cuba
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Havana
Havana is where the Perez girls grew up, but in the novel it takes on the weight and symbolism of a lost paradise, underlining the theme of Exile and the Longing for Home. Havana is the homeland from which Beatriz is exiled and the luxurious life she has been deprived of by the Cuban Revolution. The Tropicana to which she and Eduardo refer was a famous nightclub, a combination of cabaret and casino known for its celebrity guests, beautiful showgirls, and free-wheeling celebration of pleasure, luxury, and wealth. It enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s but was shut down by the revolution. Beatriz also thinks of Havana in terms of the five-mile long Malecón, a seawall, roadway, and esplanade stretching along Havana Harbor. Many of the buildings are now considered of historical value as well as great romantic appeal, possessing the character of the country before the changes brought about by Castro’s governance. This is the Havana that holds such a symbolic power in Beatriz’s mind, and her desire to reclaim it is one of her chief motivations for getting involved with the CIA.
The Canary Diamond
The canary diamond that Nick offers Beatriz as an engagement ring is invested with several meanings in the course of the novel, many of which connect to the themes of Freedom From Gendered Expectations and Conflicting Loyalties. At first the jewel symbolizes the future Nick offers Beatriz, which is the safe, protected, and rigorously public life of a society wife. The size of the diamond reflects Beatriz’s extravagant beauty and love of fine things as well as the depth of Nicholas’s admiration for her. After Nick leaves, the diamond is a symbol of what Beatriz gave up. She wears it every day for over 50 years as a reminder of the price she paid for her independence. In the short scenes set in November 2016, the diamond represents Beatriz’s self-sufficiency. By the end, the diamond represents the enduring romantic bond between Nick and Beatriz, which has been rekindled.
The Buried Box
The box that Beatriz recovers from the yard of her former family home in Miramar symbolizes the wealth and stature the family lost during the revolution and Castro’s takeover and connects to the theme of Exile and the Longing for Home. The connection to Beatriz’s childhood is explicit when she begins digging; her father directed her to look “in front of the old palm tree where we used to play when we were young girls, where I first snuck a kiss from Eduardo when we were children” (319). Recovering the box means, for a moment, that Beatriz has reclaimed the family legacy that was stolen from them. However, she must sacrifice this legacy again in order to buy her passage back to Florida, representing that she must sever herself from Cuba for good. In unearthing the box, Beatriz essentially uproots her belief that she could somehow get the old Cuba, and her old life, back. She trades this nostalgic fantasy for a return to her new home, Palm Beach.
The Portrait
The paired portrait of the first Perez and his wife is a link back to Next Year in Havana, when Elisa regarded the portrait of the corsair who came to Cuba as a representation of the family’s storied and somewhat fanciful past. In contrast, Beatriz is more interested in Isabella Perez, his wife, and thinks of her as “the woman who sailed from Spain to marry a man with a fearsome reputation, whose blood runs through my veins now” (319). In the mid-18th century, Isabella Perez was sent from Spain to marry a man who was said to be a pirate, a man she had never met. Beatriz identifies with this spirit of adventure and bravery, for she, too, is willing to risk the unknown. The portrait represents the distinction and past status of the Perez family as well as encapsulating the fearless spirit of the Perez women.
