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and “But the memory, like the mind, has the capacity to dream . . .” is from Alice
Walker’s The Temple of My Familiar. Memory, and the particular way that it is
treated in this novel, closely related to identity formation, is thus foregrounded,
facilitating the reader’s empathy with the protagonist, fourteen-year-old Gina
Domingo. Her burning issue is identity, the unstable state of being an adolescent
with multiple gaps to fill in order to become a fully adult human being. She is the
daughter of Benito Domingo and Elisa Rochart de Domingo, Cuban exiles who
have climbed the ladder of material success and now live in Pinos Verdes, an
upscale gated community near Los Angeles, California. They, especially Maman
Elisa, as she would like to be called, do not wish to remember the past. Benito’s
motto is: “Salir adelante” (Look forward in life) (3). Both parents embrace the
future-oriented myth of the American Dream, which conveniently allows them to
erase the past. Gina is thus faced with multiple burdens in her struggle to build
an identity. She does not even have the luxury of being exposed to “borrowed
memories,” as Alan West-Durán (27) refers to history that is passed on to
children of immigrants through the conversations and stories told by relatives.
Gina is left with the question: “How does one go forward in life” (3). The novel
is thus imbued with the specificity of the Cuban exile experience. The historical
circumstances surrounding the Cuban Revolution, and the U.S. policy towards it,
are intricately intertwined with the personal daily life of Gina and her family.
Cuba is a constant presence in the Domingo household, in spite of its absence
and, paradoxically, because of its absence as well. 5
When Estela, Gina’s paternal grandmother, comes directly from Cuba to be
with the family for two months, her visit unleashes intergenerational, as well as
political tensions so long held in check by silence. Gina and Estela relish each
other’s company: Gina appreciates that her grandmother fills the gaps of her
Cuban identity, and Estela hopes to “give history a balance and the past a fair
chance. For Gina’s sake” (152). The grandmother’s visit to the glitzy sites of Los
Angeles proves to be too much for her weak heart, and she suffers a heart
attack, dying before she is able to return to her home in Cuba. Although this is a
tragic end to Estela’s life and to a newly discovered relationship with her
granddaughter, her death is a plot device allowing Gina to decide to take her
grandmother’s ashes back to Cuba. Gina’s visit to the island, though sad and
brief, enables her to bridge the Cuban gap in her family. She becomes
acquainted with her aunts and cousins, and discovers that her cousin Bladimir is
also enamored of film and wishes to become a filmmaker, just like her, since she
often refers to herself as “camerawoman” and fantasizes about being a famous
filmmaker. Her trip to Cuba allows her to transform the past into the present,
filling her life with real relationships with a family and a country previously
shielded from her. Her visit is brief, soon to become another past experience for
her, but it is important that this experience be Gina’s, not borrowed from anyone
else. 6 This detail reveals the theme of authenticity that is so important to many
writers of the “one-and-a-half” generation. The search for identity must be linked
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