We Came All The Way Analysis
We Came All the Way From Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? by Achy Obejas connects to different voices of female narrators giving multiple perspectives on homosexuality. For example, in Wreck the narrator explains her situations of constantly getting into car accidents when romance fails, and in Forever, the narrator is busy trying to sort out her past with her ex-lover, which is revealed when she talks about them being good lesbians. In these three stories, the ongoing theme of love, fidelity, acceptance and rejection are depicted as the narrator takes us through different journeys as well as circumstances. It takes two people to be in a relationship and they must behave in a certain way if the relationship has to survive. In Wrecks,
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the narrator is having a hard time understanding how relationships work because despite doing everything the right way or at least she thinks she does, her girlfriend breaks up with her. The girlfriend stated clearly that she was not in love at the time of the breakup and to be honest she was really never in love with her during the entire relationship. This leaves the narrator wondering why they managed to stay together that long yet her girlfriend was never in love. Love should not be gauged by how much time partners spend together or adjusting one’s life so that it can fit with that of their partners. It is clear that some people enter into relationships for convenience at the expense of love. As a result, they end up ruining the lives of their partners. For instance, the narrator notices that every time she is involved in a break up she ends up causing an accident. To her, the car accidents are a post relationship thing. This paper will be comparing the voices of female narrator in three stories, Wrecks, We Came All the Way, and Forever as well as contrasting them. It will also be highlighting the various themes in the stories and their relationship. Also handled is the prevailing message that the author passes throughout the stories.
The female narrator in the story, Wrecks, is very pessimistic in her quest for true love as she believes people only get into relationships for other reasons other than love and will quit as soon as a better chance avails itself. The narrator explains her relationship with Sandra, and than compares it to her previous relationship with Loretta when she says, “The last time this happened was about seven years ago. It had been three and a half years of utter hell with Loretta, but I still couldn’t believe she’d really left, so in my grief and disbelief I wrapped my car around a tree in a south Chicago suburb” (Obejas 11-12). Not only did the narrator deal with heartbreak, but also she would deal with accidents following right after. The number of women she has dated and who have since broken up with her is clear proof that as much as she may try hard to find and keep girlfriends, they always leave in the long run. The break ups leave her heart broken and as a result she believes that her next girlfriend will leave just like the previous ones. Even though the she has experienced many failed relationships, she doesn’t seem to be learning from them. She seems to want a loyal and loving partner but is having a hard time finding one, which ultimately leads to her giving up on finding her true love. The same pessimism comes out clearly in the story, Forever, as the narrator talks of an ex-lover with whom she has been having an on and off relationship with for two years. Trying to subject the current girlfriend to “porch taste” confirms the suspicion she has of her girlfriends. The taste could also confirm that she has given up on finding true love since she views it as something that she can only think about and in reality is something that she will not be able to achieve. In the story, We came all the way, the female voice talks about ideological differences in relationships as witnessed from her parent’s perspective. Her father and mother hold different views about certain issues, but they still find away to be together and be happy. The narrator illustrates to the readers how her father feels about her when she says, “My father does not envision me in domestic scenes. He does not imagine me as a wife or mother because to do so would be to imagine someone else closer to me than he is, and he cannot endure that” (Obejas, 117). This contrasts with the expectations of the mother who envisions her as a young housewife to some soldier with news reporting as a job. Despite holding different opinions they still manage to find comfort, and romance in their relationship and they are accepting and supporting their daughter. The idea of acceptance in this story contrasts with, Wrecks, where the narrators’ girlfriends are breaking up with her because of ideological differences. They just cannot find a way of dealing with the situation. In the story, Forever, the idea of rejection is brought out clearly. The woman with the narrator shows signs of breaking up with her sooner or later. The narrator sees signs when she says, “Suddenly, she kisses me with her eyes wide open, almost desperate. And I know immediately: this will not-can-not-last” (Obejas, 95). The look and kiss convey their message to the narrator; she knows the relationship will not last.
Because of these heartbreaks, she must go to counseling due to her getting affected emotionally. The reader is able to hear pain in the narrators voice and she is wondering why her lover left her, even though they were together for so long. Seven years in a relationship is a very long time and the suffering and pain that must get dealt with after such a break up is not easy and that is clearly highlighted in the way the narrator describes her situation. The way her girlfriend is kissing her with her eyes wide open can also be a form of symbolism. It shows that her girlfriend is truly not in love with her and is just kissing her for the sake of their relationship status. If you are in love with someone, kissing is a very intimate moment and you indulge in the action, you don’t sit there with your eyes open. So, it was clear that she was no longer that interested.
Uncertainties in life are one idea that runs through the three texts. In, We Came all the Way, the narrator and her parents are forced to flee from Cuba and seek asylum in the United States during the revolution in the Cuba. Due to the conflict, the future of the narrator and her parents is threatened. In order to secure their future, they are forced to flee the country. Wars and other forms of calamities usually cast uncertainties in an individual’s life. Jobs, schooling, and economy are usually at stake during such times. In, Wrecks, uncertainties are also casted on love. The narrator is very skeptical about love. For instance, after having what looked like a promising relationship with Sandra for five years, she still breaks up with her after a visit to San Francisco. She says, “ This is very important to me right now because I have an automobile accident after a breakup, and Sandra my lover of five years, just left me for some babe who lives in San Francisco, the promised land of fruits and nuts” (Obejas, 11). It is as if they never had something for each other and that Sandra was just waiting for a better person to come along. The idea of uncertainties is also captured in the story, Forever, since the narrator’s girlfriend is breaking up with her.
In the story, We Came all the Way, the narrator uses a lot of imagery for several purposes.
The narrator describes Sandra’s new girlfriend as being tall and wooden in order to express her dislike of her and also speaks ill of Sandra herself even though she once was in love with her. She says, “Sandra’s dark, jealous, and bird-like, as impatient and breathtaking as a nestling, and the new babe is tall and wooden” (Obejas,11). The expression ‘wooden’ depicts the lack of feelings or emotions of Sandra’s new partner. She can’t stop thinking about the fact that they are not a good fit. It almost seems like she is obsessing over Sandra. She seems to be having a hard time letting …show more content…
go.
Most of the imagery is captured in the story, Wrecks as the narrator describes her lifestyle with Loretta as “three and a half years of utter hell.” The image created here is that of suffering on the part of the narrator as well as her lover, Loretta. Loretta finds it hard to continue withstanding her sarcasm when she expected women to be kinder. She moved in with her partner, thinking that her relationship would be comforting and easy to handle.
Themes such as betrayal run throughout the three stories.
In We Came all the Way, the narrator’s father feels betrayed by the government since he is forced into exile as a result of holding divergent ideas to those held by Fidel Castro. The narrator paints his father as a patriot since he buys a television set, something he had been postponing for long just to watch athletes from his country participate in Olympic Games in Mexico. The narrator in the story Wrecks feels betrayed by her girlfriends. Despite living together all it took was one incident to change their minds about her. Lesbianism is another theme covered in all three stories. Desperation is another theme that is covered in these stories. The narrator’s family is desperate for new life, one that is free from war. They flee to the US to start a new life after conflicts broke up in their country. Cuba and all those opposed to the regime were targeted. Desperate to provide a decent life for the family and secure good education for his daughter, her father is forced to flee his country despite being a patriot. Faced with the question why he is seeking political asylum in the US, the narrator’s father says “we came for her, so she could have a future”. The narrator is desperate in her quest for true love as evident in the number of women she has dated, but who later broke up with her for one reason or another. The activist in the story, Forever is also desperate to keep her newfound partner longer than her other
relationships have lasted. Rejection is also a theme, which is enveloped in the three stories. As much as the narrator’s family is welcome and accepted in the US to the extent of being offered accommodation, money, and other necessities to start over, they are silently rejected. In Forever dating one woman at a time and trying to keep her as all costs is a sign of desperation, especially when they keep breaking up with the narrator. The narrator just does not understand why the women she dates keep going away even when she is doing everything the right way and it seems to be working.
To conclude, the use of female voice in the three stories has been used effectively to convey the writer’s message that, lesbians are part of the community and that they face similar challenges with affairs just like anybody else in the community. The main message that Achy Obejas tries to convey to her readers is that lesbians are part of the society and they equally have responsibilities and part to play in the development of the community. She urges community members to accept them as well as others in the same category such as gays, transgender, and bisexuals. She also highlights the idea that no matter what your sexual identity is and what sex you’re attracted to, at the end of it, we all have the same emotion feelings. We feel pain and suffer when our hearts are broken regardless of what we identify ourselves as. The idea of love being blind is the major cause of suffering in most affairs. People should be able to differentiate between infatuation and true love. Infatuation could be said to love for convenience as opposed to true love, which persists no matter what the situation may be.
the narrator is having a hard time understanding how relationships work because despite doing everything the right way or at least she thinks she does, her girlfriend breaks up with her. The girlfriend stated clearly that she was not in love at the time of the breakup and to be honest she was really never in love with her during the entire relationship. This leaves the narrator wondering why they managed to stay together that long yet her girlfriend was never in love. Love should not be gauged by how much time partners spend together or adjusting one’s life so that it can fit with that of their partners. It is clear that some people enter into relationships for convenience at the expense of love. As a result, they end up ruining the lives of their partners. For instance, the narrator notices that every time she is involved in a break up she ends up causing an accident. To her, the car accidents are a post relationship thing. This paper will be comparing the voices of female narrator in three stories, Wrecks, We Came All the Way, and Forever as well as contrasting them. It will also be highlighting the various themes in the stories and their relationship. Also handled is the prevailing message that the author passes throughout the stories.
The female narrator in the story, Wrecks, is very pessimistic in her quest for true love as she believes people only get into relationships for other reasons other than love and will quit as soon as a better chance avails itself. The narrator explains her relationship with Sandra, and than compares it to her previous relationship with Loretta when she says, “The last time this happened was about seven years ago. It had been three and a half years of utter hell with Loretta, but I still couldn’t believe she’d really left, so in my grief and disbelief I wrapped my car around a tree in a south Chicago suburb” (Obejas 11-12). Not only did the narrator deal with heartbreak, but also she would deal with accidents following right after. The number of women she has dated and who have since broken up with her is clear proof that as much as she may try hard to find and keep girlfriends, they always leave in the long run. The break ups leave her heart broken and as a result she believes that her next girlfriend will leave just like the previous ones. Even though the she has experienced many failed relationships, she doesn’t seem to be learning from them. She seems to want a loyal and loving partner but is having a hard time finding one, which ultimately leads to her giving up on finding her true love. The same pessimism comes out clearly in the story, Forever, as the narrator talks of an ex-lover with whom she has been having an on and off relationship with for two years. Trying to subject the current girlfriend to “porch taste” confirms the suspicion she has of her girlfriends. The taste could also confirm that she has given up on finding true love since she views it as something that she can only think about and in reality is something that she will not be able to achieve. In the story, We came all the way, the female voice talks about ideological differences in relationships as witnessed from her parent’s perspective. Her father and mother hold different views about certain issues, but they still find away to be together and be happy. The narrator illustrates to the readers how her father feels about her when she says, “My father does not envision me in domestic scenes. He does not imagine me as a wife or mother because to do so would be to imagine someone else closer to me than he is, and he cannot endure that” (Obejas, 117). This contrasts with the expectations of the mother who envisions her as a young housewife to some soldier with news reporting as a job. Despite holding different opinions they still manage to find comfort, and romance in their relationship and they are accepting and supporting their daughter. The idea of acceptance in this story contrasts with, Wrecks, where the narrators’ girlfriends are breaking up with her because of ideological differences. They just cannot find a way of dealing with the situation. In the story, Forever, the idea of rejection is brought out clearly. The woman with the narrator shows signs of breaking up with her sooner or later. The narrator sees signs when she says, “Suddenly, she kisses me with her eyes wide open, almost desperate. And I know immediately: this will not-can-not-last” (Obejas, 95). The look and kiss convey their message to the narrator; she knows the relationship will not last.
Because of these heartbreaks, she must go to counseling due to her getting affected emotionally. The reader is able to hear pain in the narrators voice and she is wondering why her lover left her, even though they were together for so long. Seven years in a relationship is a very long time and the suffering and pain that must get dealt with after such a break up is not easy and that is clearly highlighted in the way the narrator describes her situation. The way her girlfriend is kissing her with her eyes wide open can also be a form of symbolism. It shows that her girlfriend is truly not in love with her and is just kissing her for the sake of their relationship status. If you are in love with someone, kissing is a very intimate moment and you indulge in the action, you don’t sit there with your eyes open. So, it was clear that she was no longer that interested.
Uncertainties in life are one idea that runs through the three texts. In, We Came all the Way, the narrator and her parents are forced to flee from Cuba and seek asylum in the United States during the revolution in the Cuba. Due to the conflict, the future of the narrator and her parents is threatened. In order to secure their future, they are forced to flee the country. Wars and other forms of calamities usually cast uncertainties in an individual’s life. Jobs, schooling, and economy are usually at stake during such times. In, Wrecks, uncertainties are also casted on love. The narrator is very skeptical about love. For instance, after having what looked like a promising relationship with Sandra for five years, she still breaks up with her after a visit to San Francisco. She says, “ This is very important to me right now because I have an automobile accident after a breakup, and Sandra my lover of five years, just left me for some babe who lives in San Francisco, the promised land of fruits and nuts” (Obejas, 11). It is as if they never had something for each other and that Sandra was just waiting for a better person to come along. The idea of uncertainties is also captured in the story, Forever, since the narrator’s girlfriend is breaking up with her.
In the story, We Came all the Way, the narrator uses a lot of imagery for several purposes.
The narrator describes Sandra’s new girlfriend as being tall and wooden in order to express her dislike of her and also speaks ill of Sandra herself even though she once was in love with her. She says, “Sandra’s dark, jealous, and bird-like, as impatient and breathtaking as a nestling, and the new babe is tall and wooden” (Obejas,11). The expression ‘wooden’ depicts the lack of feelings or emotions of Sandra’s new partner. She can’t stop thinking about the fact that they are not a good fit. It almost seems like she is obsessing over Sandra. She seems to be having a hard time letting …show more content…
go.
Most of the imagery is captured in the story, Wrecks as the narrator describes her lifestyle with Loretta as “three and a half years of utter hell.” The image created here is that of suffering on the part of the narrator as well as her lover, Loretta. Loretta finds it hard to continue withstanding her sarcasm when she expected women to be kinder. She moved in with her partner, thinking that her relationship would be comforting and easy to handle.
Themes such as betrayal run throughout the three stories.
In We Came all the Way, the narrator’s father feels betrayed by the government since he is forced into exile as a result of holding divergent ideas to those held by Fidel Castro. The narrator paints his father as a patriot since he buys a television set, something he had been postponing for long just to watch athletes from his country participate in Olympic Games in Mexico. The narrator in the story Wrecks feels betrayed by her girlfriends. Despite living together all it took was one incident to change their minds about her. Lesbianism is another theme covered in all three stories. Desperation is another theme that is covered in these stories. The narrator’s family is desperate for new life, one that is free from war. They flee to the US to start a new life after conflicts broke up in their country. Cuba and all those opposed to the regime were targeted. Desperate to provide a decent life for the family and secure good education for his daughter, her father is forced to flee his country despite being a patriot. Faced with the question why he is seeking political asylum in the US, the narrator’s father says “we came for her, so she could have a future”. The narrator is desperate in her quest for true love as evident in the number of women she has dated, but who later broke up with her for one reason or another. The activist in the story, Forever is also desperate to keep her newfound partner longer than her other
relationships have lasted. Rejection is also a theme, which is enveloped in the three stories. As much as the narrator’s family is welcome and accepted in the US to the extent of being offered accommodation, money, and other necessities to start over, they are silently rejected. In Forever dating one woman at a time and trying to keep her as all costs is a sign of desperation, especially when they keep breaking up with the narrator. The narrator just does not understand why the women she dates keep going away even when she is doing everything the right way and it seems to be working.
To conclude, the use of female voice in the three stories has been used effectively to convey the writer’s message that, lesbians are part of the community and that they face similar challenges with affairs just like anybody else in the community. The main message that Achy Obejas tries to convey to her readers is that lesbians are part of the society and they equally have responsibilities and part to play in the development of the community. She urges community members to accept them as well as others in the same category such as gays, transgender, and bisexuals. She also highlights the idea that no matter what your sexual identity is and what sex you’re attracted to, at the end of it, we all have the same emotion feelings. We feel pain and suffer when our hearts are broken regardless of what we identify ourselves as. The idea of love being blind is the major cause of suffering in most affairs. People should be able to differentiate between infatuation and true love. Infatuation could be said to love for convenience as opposed to true love, which persists no matter what the situation may be.