One of the fascinating aspects of Dreaming in Cuban for me, as a psychology major, was the way magical realism and mental instability interacted. Throughout the book, Cristina Garcia describes the ideas and actions of multiple main characters who find themselves in psychiatric facilities. How many of these situations are a result of magical realism and what is the role of mental disorders in these characters?
Celia is the first character who we learn has experienced mental issues. She has lived in a verbally and emotionally abusive home with Jorge’s mother and sister. They treat her less than human and give her “scraps to eat, worse than what they fed the dogs in the street” (40). Celia soon finds sleep to be her only solace as she struggles to get through each day, alone and rejected. Celia is sent to a psychiatric center where she is treated with medication. In her letters to Gustavo she writes, “I lie to the doctors. I tell them my father raped me, that I eat rusted sunsets, scald children in the womb.” (51). These disorganized fragments reveal her struggles with mental health as she continues to mourn her separation from Gustavo.
It does not take long to see that Felicia is also dealing with a difficult mental state. She uses violence against the men she marries and even tries to kill herself and Ivanito. Luz describes her birthday party as a child when her mom filled the piñata with eggs. Luz states that everyone was too stunned to “notice my mother shaking with laughter” (122). There is something disturbing and tragic in her experiences of “waking up” married to a man who she has no recollection of and that she seeks revenge through spreading a mixture on Graciela’s hair (151).
In order to better understand the history and attitude toward mental health care in Cuba I read an article titled Not Just Salsa and Cigars: Mental Health in Cuba. This article discusses the historical background of mental hospitals in Cuba and Castro’s work with the healthcare system. Here are a few interesting points the article makes:- Hospital Psiquiátrico de la Habana (HPH) was the only public psychiatric hospital in Cuba until 1959. The Castro government made it a priority to transform the hospital from the place of despair and neglect that it was during the Batista years into a more humane treatment center.
- HPH, now one of three major psychiatric facilities in Cuba, has about 2000 in-patients and about 2000 attending on a daily basis.
Though we are not given much information in the book about the treatment Celia and Felicia receive in psychiatric facilities, we can assume that with such large hospitals and lack of staff it was difficult for them to receive appropriate treatment. Maybe that is why Felicia turns to Santeria to better understand herself and her future. In Dreaming in Cuban, it is especially hard to decipher between truths, lies, magical realism, and psychological conditions. I would love to hear Garcia’s perceptions of the characters’ conditions and the role of magical realism in her book.
More reading: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/17/us-cuba-trial-idUSTRE70G4J820110117 News article describing the recent deaths at a Cuban psychiatric hospital.
Photo Courtesy of : http://www.drblythe.com/Cuba/images/psychhospital.jpg
Becca, thanks for this post! It was really enlightening to hear about the interaction between mental illness and magical realism. The entire book, I was a little confused about when things we're magically real or when the characters were just crazy. The first example of this that I can think of is when Pilar and Celia talk every night? Can they really? Or is Pilar as mentally unstable as the rest of the women in her family seem to be?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting the link to the other article, too... I've only skimmed it so far, but it already seems really interesting.
Ditto to what Lavonne said. I thought the mental illnesses that were described in the book were fascinating as well, though. Looking back, I realize that I didn’t really think of the book as Magic Realist at all as I was reading it (which is odd because it does start off with Celia seeing the ghost of her husband, an event which no one questions). Lourdes seems pretty put together as well, but she sees his ghost too. Perhaps Garcia is making a statement about the way that people create meaning through mystic means in order to cope with traumatic events?
ReplyDeleteBecca, I also thought it was interesting to look at the role mental illness played in each of the characters' lives throughout the book. As both Lavonne and Tillie mentioned, it was also rather difficult while reading for me to determine whether some of the characters were actually mentally ill or simply interacting with mystical spirits.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the state of mental institutions in Cuba during this time period is another important aspect of looking at why Celia and Felicia weren't necessarily getting better when being treated. As you said in your post, these facilities may have been very understaffed and not able to treat everyone very well. "Dreaming in Cuban," then, gives us a glimpse into some of the realities of Cuban life during this time period.
I, along with everybody else, thought it was interesting how the novel put mental illness into the characters' lives. Sometimes I had to go back reread because I, too, was confused whether these people were serious or just mentally ill. Mental illness put in a new idea for me to think about when I think of Latino Literature. I would have never thought that it would play a role in a novel. My experience with women who struggle is way different than what the novel portrays. In fact, it is the total opposite. The women are strong and fight everyday to make things right. However, it played out differently through the characters in "Dreaming in Cuban."
ReplyDeleteThanks for this fascinating research and inquiry into mental illness in Cuba. Certainly in countries where there is little treatment for mental illness, there are alternative ways of responding. But there's also a continuum between mental stability and insanity, too. The book seems to play with a range of sanity-insanity behaviors and leaves the reader guessing as to how to interpret some of the characters. How many of our ideas of sanity are culturally based?
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