Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Waiting for Snow in Havana is about 14,000 kids that are exiled from Cuba without their parents. These kids do not need clearance to go into the United States, so they can leave quickly. However, their parents do, so it takes a long time before they can be with them. The book tells the story of Carlos Eire and how he came to the United States. It opens with Castro coming to power. It also explains how his father had a lot of power before because he was a judge. When Carlos goes to the movies, he is not allowed to see several of the movies that he was allowed to see before the Castro regime began. His mother realizes that she has to send her two youngest children, which include Carlos, to the United States because it has become too dangerous. She ends up sending them and Carlos and his brother stay in two different foster homes until their mother can come to America. When she finally does, they move to Chicago. Carlos explains how terrible the weather was and how much he missed Havana. However, he understands that he just had to flee. He changes great deal throughout the novel and becomes more comprehensive of everything going on around him.

The main two themes in the memoir are that of loss and forgiveness.
Castro makes the Cuban choose between Exile and oppression. Because of this, Carlos's mother chooses to send her two youngest kids to the United States. Castro takes everything from the citizens. He takes all their freedom. "I see myself staying at home in Havana, with no Revolution left to chase me away, free to apply Brylcreem to my hair and dance the night away at a thousand and one nightclubs. I see myself leading a better sweeter life than the one God has graced me with."
The second theme is that of forgiveness. Carlos never wants to forgive Ernesto for what he did to him and to Tony. Also, Carlos has a thought time forgiving his father for all that he did. However, at the end of the memoir, Carlos has a dream, which is his father coming to tell him that he forgives all the bad thoughts that he had of him.

1. Early on, we encounter the author's loss of innocence, as political tensions begin to explode in violence and threaten the almost idyllic world of the Havana elite that Eire inhabits. But even in that idyll, as the author takes part in normal childhood exploits, there is a sense of pleasure and danger resting hand in hand -- a powerful concoction. How do these lessons of Eire's early youth serve him during the dramatic changes of his young adulthood?

Eire's experiences as a child allow him to mature more quickly than more kids would. Because Ernesto sexually molested him and his brother, he is made to take care and feel protective of Tony. Also, he learns to stand up to people, like the bully in his school.

2. How does memory work in Eire's story? How do memories of pleasure and of danger live in him? Do they reconcile each other, or does one trump the other in the end?

Memories in Eire's story always have a positive aspect, however, not always a negative aspect. Because of this, pleasure ends up triumphing.

3. History -- particularly the violence of the past -- plays a big part in Eire's parents' imaginations and in how they choose to live. They refer to themselves as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and their house is full of objects that project a powerful, almost living sense of Christ's suffering. Then modern violence disrupts the family. How do they both use the lessons of Christ and their "past lives" or alter egos to act in the present crisis?

The two parents think that they are royalty Also; this shows the downfall that will be caused to his family. The lesson of Christ is that Carlos is scared of him. The painting was owned by his father and since he didn't like his father, he was also scared of the painting.

4. Eire uses lizards to embody "perfect metaphors" in his memoir. Lizards are often passive, most often despised, and always pitiful victims of others' misguided exercises of power. And yet it is a species of great resilience, powerful in its presence in Cuban lives. Who and what is the lizard ultimately in Eire's imagination?

The lizards are ultimately all the Cuban people that are suffering at the hands of Castro’s regime.

5. Some readers will understand this as a tale of the innocent victim (because Eire is a child), of a necessary, however flawed, stake at justice for the victims of the Batista regime and of colonialism, as many Black Cubans are the very near descendants of slaves. Eire speaks of how his family profited directly from others' suffering. And then the tables are turned. How do you reconcile the grievances of both groups? Is the author able to transcend his sense of personal rage? How might writing be his own intimate stake at justice?

Carlos had to think of his family first. Since he is writing the story, it is completely biased. Because of this, Carlos is also able to show his rage.

6. Justice is something passionately sought by many in his family: by his aunt who is a consummate activist; by his father, the judge and Louis XVI incarnate; by his uncle who offers an ultimate insult in the face of the firing squad. How do they inform Eire's struggle?

They inform Eire's struggle because they are all trying to make Cuba a better country for future generations like his.

7. How do you piece together Eire's deep and complicated sense of rage for his father, who is symbolized by and is a symbol for his fatherland?

Carlos has a rage towards his father because he won't do anything to get them out of Cuba. This also shows how Carlos wants to get out of Cuba because of all the terrible conditions in the country. He feels his father does nothing to stop them and is angered by this.

8. Eire is keenly aware of race and color. But he does not have a true understanding of the psychological and economic costs of racial/ethnic bigotry and oppression until he is on American soil, where he becomes poor and a "Spic." What does he do with this new understanding?

He thinks to himself that he wants to go back to his home country again.

9. Eire reveals his anger and contempt for his adopted brother Ernesto who, though it is somewhat cryptically relayed, has sexually molested him. He says that the revelation of this abuse causes his father to turn against him, in favor of Ernesto. These events coincide with Castro's revolution and his sense of violation by his fatherland. This is followed by his father's more ultimate act -- feverishly collecting personal treasures -- artifacts -- as he passively allows his sons to be swept away from him. It is a struggle that is resonant with Biblical events and almost Biblical in proportion. What do you make of this difficulty of reconciling such deep and inseparable betrayals?

Ernesto represents the Che. The Che also had betrayal in him; therefore these two people are connected.

10. Eire talks about his parents' different legacies: his mother is the daughter of Spanish émigrés, conceived on their transatlantic passage, while his father's family has been rooted in Cuba for many generations. His mother's impulse is to be forward-looking, privileging the modern, and, as its symbol, the American. His father "favored the past, fought against the present, and ignored the future." How do these impulses play out in the family's ultimate dissolution?

This causes Tony and Carlos to be shipped off to America. After a few years, Carlos’s mom comes to live with them.

11. The author struggles with the past, seeking understanding in Biblical ideas, and in the idea he introduces on p. 64 -- that conflict and journey are inevitable and are sparks of love. In the end, do you feel he is to achieve this reconciliation? What lessons do we learn that may help us in our own struggles to come to terms with the tragedies in our own lives?

I think he is able to achieve this because in the end he realizes that things are not as bad as they seem and that his situation could be worse. We learn that we always have to keep faith and do everything possible to be happy. Also, we should always be pessimistic and think the best of our situation.

12. What is communism? Are its lofty goals of total egalitarianism attainable? Are its repressive measures justifiable?

Communism is when the wealth in a country is distributed equally. However, it usually doesn’t work because the government is corrupt and keeps most of the wealth to itself. The goals of total egalitarianism are not really realistically attained and its repressive measures and not justifiable.

13. Debate, pro or con: "Communism is good for third world people, but not for North Americans or Western Europeans."

CON- Communism is not good for anybody. Communism makes people not advance in all aspects of life. Why should somebody work hard to earn money is the wealth is going to be distributed? Also, in communism, the government is usually corrupt and keeps most of the wealth.

14. How does Eire feel that his experiences in Cuba affected his personal philosophy? Does he feel that his experiences there affected his life mission? (And if so, how?)

Eire feels that he grew up to be a very carrying person and a person who had strong believes. He feels that his experience helped him get through his life always demanding what he wanted and working hard for it.

17. In what ways do political émigrés differ from other immigrants?

Political émigrés come because of political reasons. It is easier for these émigrés to come to America because they have a justifiable reason and they need refuge. Also, in their country, they could have been severely punished for no reason.