¶ … Cuban Swimmer (1984) -- an Abusive Trainer-Athlete Relationship You're papi's got everything under control, understand?"(Sanchez-Scott, 1984, p. 913) The proud young athlete who is mentored by a devoted coach is a common cliches in sports stories. "Hispanic-Americans use athletic skills to propel themselves into the mainstream of middle- class life in this country. It's a traditional theme. The basic plot was advanced long ago in such plays as Clifford Odets's 'Golden Boy,' and since then, in scores of films, books and movies, members of ethnic groups have moved out of the slums." (Mitgang, 1984) However, in the play "The Cuban Swimmer," such a conventions is turned on its head. The play highlights the potential abuses of the athlete and coach relationship by contrasting the young heroine's poetic and triumphant efforts with the crass desire of her trainer for media exposure. Her trainer...
Throughout the short play, her father brusquely tells her how to breath and stroke and reveals his profound ignorance of the true nature of the water and his daughter's increasingly weary body. Despite the contention of Eduardo, the father of the title character, that he has everything under control, the play "The Cuban Swimmer" highlights how little control Eduardo really has over his own emotions as he becomes caught up in the media frenzy that ensues as a result of his teenage daughter's determination and swimming prowess. The value of independence from a close-knit but corrupt family in the narrative of the young, ethnic athlete who 'makes good' is the thematic contention…
Cuban Swimmer Got Jokes? Milcha Sanchez-Scott's play, "The Cuban Swimmer," contains a great deal of comedy. Although most of the humor in this play is intended by the author, some of it is not and lends itself to a form of entertainment that is somewhat unsophisticated in nature. However, most of the play is quite farcical, if not outright satirical, and therefore primarily provokes an emotional response of laughter. Although such laughter
As with Lawrence's young protagonist, the burden of excellence becomes too great, and the girl feels she cannot provide for her family -- intellectually, rather than financially. The metaphor of the boy's rocking horse, endlessly rocking back and forth to churn out the names of winners in maddening repetition becomes transformed, in "Suicide Note," into another kind of repetitive metaphor, that of failed flight. The boy, who should have rode
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