Sibling Rivalry and Reunion: Sisters in and out of Cuba (García’s The Agüero Sisters and De Aragón’s The Memory of Silence)

Jeffrey C Barnett

doi:10.33596/anth.405

Abstract

In both The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia and The Memory of Silence by Uva de Aragon, the two authors develop their respective conflicts around sisters who are separated following the Cuban Revolution. In both cases, one sister remains in Cuba while the other migrates to the United States. As the two novels develop, the reader understands that we are before an allegory in which one sisters represents post-Revolutionary Cuba while the other emblemizes the new identity of the Cuban exile diaspora. The narrative tension presents the protagonists as rivals, but in both cases, their reunification says as much as about cultural relationships as it does sibling rivalries. Given the striking similarities between the two works in both discourse and theme, then, we may be tempted to presume that one story is merely a re-telling of the other; however, a textual analysis reveals identifiable differences in scope, purpose, and resolution.

Highlights

Sibling rivalry has long served as a universal theme that pits brother against brother, and the abundant examples of fraternal rivalries span a wide variety of universal mythologies
In De Loo’s work, World War II serves as the external backdrop that has led to the separation of two young orphans
Civil strife and war provide the background in The Sacred Willow (1999) in which Duong Van Mai Elliott considers the trajectory of four generations of her Vietnamese family

Summary

Introduction

Sibling rivalry has long served as a universal theme that pits brother against brother, and the abundant examples of fraternal rivalries span a wide variety of universal mythologies. García’s The Agüero Sisters (1998) and De Aragón’s The Memory of Silence (2002) focus on familial separation and its lasting conflicts set within, and as a consequence of, the Cuban Revolution. Menchu (in The Memory of Silence) and Reina (in The Agüero Sisters) come to signify cubanidad, whereas Lauri and Constancia (respectively) symbolize the diaspora of the Cuban-American in the United States.

Results

Conclusion