David and Gulliver: Fifty Years of Competing Metaphors in the Cuban–United States Relationship

Abstract

The national narratives Cuba and the United States have constructed about their relationship since 1959 reflect the enormous differences in size, power, and wealth of the two countries. Cuban leaders often characterize the relationship with the metaphor of David and Goliath, which conveys the image of a small, valiant defender facing an enormous aggressor. American leaders invoke images of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, in which the giant is benign and honourable. He chooses to suffer the pin pricks that the little people occasionally inflict on him rather than destroy the attackers, which he could do easily, because the giant's intention is to help them not kill them. This article reviews the tension between Cuba and the United States since 1959, which has reinforced the metaphor each country developed to explain the hostility between them. In turn, the metaphors have framed the way the leaders view the relationship, and in this way have become an obstacle to improved relations. Cuban officials tend to discount United States fears about the aggressive implications of the David and Goliath framework, which also disposes them to be suspicious about American initiatives. Similarly, in viewing the relationship through the eyes of a Gulliver, American officials tend to discount the history of United States aggression against Cuba, and they seem to act on a belief that only a disingenuous tyrant could doubt the good intentions they have for the Cuban people.