In his book, Remembering Maternal Bodies: Melancholy in Latina and Latin American Woman’s Writing, Benigno Trigo argues that Latina and Latin American woman writers speak to an influential force that goes beyond the individual lives of their biological mothers. Trigo claims that these women writers give voice to a “maternal speaking body” which changes the shape of what he coins as a “patriarchal maternal imaginary” (2). He offers various in-depth readings of works from authors such as Rosario Ferré and Julia Alvarez.
Although he does not look specifically at the authors in my dissertation, his work is indeed relevant to it. Trigo suggests that images of the mother and
motherhood in works of Latina writers “confirm that the maternal imaginary is both a linguistic and an organic process that makes but at the same time troubles meaning, identity, and subjectivity” (4).
Rebecca lives a relatively sheltered life as a housewife. She repeatedly questions her situation as Tommy’s wife, seemingly confused about what she has become. Her relationship with her husband is strained due to the recent loss of his business and it is mirrored in their nightly drinking episodes. With respect to her relationship with her mother, Rebecca struggles to cope with her
demanding demeanor. Rebecca’s mother frequently expresses her disappointment with Rebecca’s decisions in life:
“It was before that man you married taught you to disdain and mistreat your own mother…” Mami momentarily stopped to think, and sighed, “When I think of all the sacrifices I made to send you to that school…so that you could mingle with the best people in
Miami…and go to the best university…have a career…” (4) It is evident that female genealogy is a central concern in Rivera’s novel. Rebecca’s mother addresses her daughter, saying: “And you never used to criticize your own mother. It’s because you married an americano, and
americanos have no sense of how close mothers are to their daughters” (12). Here, a distinction is made by Rebecca’s mother between what “americanos” believe and what Cubans know to be true. In her case, the fact that Rebecca married Tommy has somehow ruined her own relationship with her daughter, something she believes all Cubans take very seriously. In “Body Against Body: In Relation to the Mother,” Irigaray argues that the separation between mother and daughter can lead to lasting, negative effects on a woman. She asserts, “Neither the little girl nor the woman needs to give up the love for her mother. To do so is to sever women from the roots of their identity and their subjectivity” (20). In Rivera’s work, there are various examples of the conflict between Rebecca and her mother. Some of the more significant illustrations of this are found in their phone conversations. In one instance, Rebecca receives a call from her during one of her tertulias:
“Mom, I really have to go now, I have company, I’ll call you later.” “Yes, of course, no time for me,” Rebecca’s mother said and hung up. (100)
Another instance occurs when her mother calls to talk about Brothers to the Rescue and how Fidel shot them down. Rebecca’s reaction is disinterested and neutral. The narrator explains, “Rebecca was sitting in a rocking chair with the phone cradled between her shoulder and her jaw. While her mother talked she examined her skin in a little vanity mirror. ‘Un-hunh’ she replied” (193). In both cases, her mother becomes extremely aggravated with Rebecca’s attitude and hangs up the phone. The reader can assume that she blames Rebecca’s past choices, such as marrying Tommy, for her apathetic and indifferent disposition towards Cuban-American politics and her relationship with her mother.
Rebecca knows that she does not share the same national identity as her mother. By growing up in Miami, not Havana, her perspective of what it means to be “Cuban” is distinct. Rebecca does not consider herself part of her mother and father’s community of exiles. She questions the validity in labeling herself part of a group of people who no longer live in their homeland. For her, Miami is home; it is where she belongs. She asserts:
By the time this “grupito de Cubanas en el Exilio,” as they called themselves, graduated from The Assumption Academy, even the departure from Cuba and the arrival in El Exilio seemed so distant that it no longer concerned them. El Exilio was their parents’ nickname for Miami, but Miami was home from them [Rebecca and friends], and, in secret, it was becoming home even for their
More than ever, Rebecca defines herself as separate from her mother’s
generation. As a Cuban-American, she belongs in Miami, the city that is integral to her hyphenated identity. Rebecca’s mother also makes this distinction when she insists that Rebecca has become “Americanized” by marrying Tommy. Be that as it may, Rebecca takes a step further by insinuating that even her parents, who once struggled to live in Florida instead of Cuba, have made Miami their home.