Monkey Hunting
Mixed cultures and mixed ancestries are both a large part of the plot and the theme of Monkey Hunting. The characters of course bear the literary responsibility as to the impact of cross-cultural and mixed ancestries; but the setting, the ironies and the various narratives by various characters carry the messages that the author delivers with both eloquence and coarseness.
On many occasions in this book Cristina Garcia brings the reader into the cultural stew that has resulted from Chen Pan's arrival in Cuba and the offspring he is responsible for. Mixed cultures result in clashes in what to eat and how to love. On pages 203-204 for example, readers are treated to the fact that Vietnamese people love to use fish sauce. Anyone who has visited a Vietnamese restaurant knows that you won't find ketchup or mustard on the table, but there will be fish sauce. And here is Chen Pan's great-great grandson, Domingo Chen, of Cuban, African, and Asian extraction, in Saigon in 1970 with Tham Thanh Lan, a Vietnamese woman.
She spread fish sauce on everything," not the least of which was the ice cream (Neapolitan) that Domingo gave her. She hated peanut butter, hamburgers, Oreo cookies and other traditionally American foods. Worse yet, Domingo couldn't teach her to learn even a few Spanish words, but on the other hand, Domingo couldn't kiss her without having fish sauce on his lips and they couldn't make love unless the fish sauce was "spread...everywhere."
Domingo apparently had too much of a blend of African / Cuban / Asian blood in him to suit the officer's club culture, readers learn on page 209. Mixed cultures in this case were not welcome, albeit as for his hair being "afro," the history of the war in Vietnam shows that many African-Americans were in the front lines and in fact took the brunt of the attacks from enemy soldiers in many instances. "His features [were] not immediately identifiable as one of them" (p....
Efficacy and Quality of Cuba's Educational Program Tensions continue to wax and wane between the two countries, but Cuba's economy has largely stabilized and the situation between Castro's country and the United States is also essentially at an impasse (Suddath 2009). The increased stabilization of the Cuban economy and society has led to many internal changes in the country, however, and these have largely been to the benefit of Cuba and
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Leftist leaders preach a sermon of economic equality, of providing the "little man" with the ability to live the same life as the doctor or engineer - because though he may have less education, his contribution to society in terms of labor (particularly manual labor) is more significant, challenging, and sacrificial than the practice of medicine or law. The sugar-cane farmers and rum producers, the tobacco growers and the
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Comparing a blockade to the first option (air-strike) was a no-brainer. First of all, a guarantee of the airstrike being effective was highly unlikely. At the time, the pinpoint weaponry employed by the present day United States was not available, and in fact such weaponry had not even been invented yet. The Soviet Union, of course, knew that such a course of direction would not be effective and therefore the
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