Dreaming in Cuban

by

Cristina García

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Felicia is the middle child of Celia and Jorge; she’s Lourdes and Javier’s sister and Luz, Milagro, and Ivanito’s mother. She is named after Felicia Gutierrez, a friend of Celia’s in the mental health asylum. Like her namesake, Felicia is stricken with misfortune and mental illness throughout her life. Felicia lives a haphazard and unpredictable life governed only by her poetic imagination and sexual desires. Felicia suffers from delusions, especially after marrying her abusive husband, Hugo Villaverde. She sometimes locks her children, twins Luz and Milagro and son Ivanito, in the house for weeks at a time, obsessively making coconut ice cream and teaching Ivanito to dance. When the children were small, Felicia attacked Hugo with a flaming rag, maiming him for life. Years later, after the housebound and delusional “summer of coconuts,” she attempts suicide before being rescued by Celia. After this incident, she spends time training with a guerilla brigade with the goal of making her a useful member of society. However, despite Celia’s urgings, Felicia never cares about politics. Felicia is drawn to aspects of Santería, the religion of her best friend Herminia, throughout her life. Following the deaths of her second husband Ernesto and third husband Otto (which are highly suspicious and unclear as to Felicia’s involvement), Felicia gives herself to the practice of Santería completely. After her initiation, she finally seems to find a measure of peace and stability in her life. However, feeling unloved by her family, she declines, eventually dying in Celia’s arms.

Felicia del Pino Quotes in Dreaming in Cuban

The Dreaming in Cuban quotes below are all either spoken by Felicia del Pino or refer to Felicia del Pino. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Passion, Romance, and Marriage Theme Icon
).
The Fire Between Them Quotes

Celia is uneasy about all these potions and spells. Herminia is the daughter of a santería priest, and Celia fears that both good and evil may be borne in the same seed. Although Celia dabbles in santería’s harmless superstitions, she cannot bring herself to trust the clandestine rites of the African magic.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, Herminia Delgado
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
The Meaning of Shells Quotes

Felicia learned her florid language on those nights. She would borrow freely from the poems she'd heard, stringing words together like laundry on a line, connecting ideas and descriptions she couldn't have planned. The words sounded precisely right when she said them, though often people told her she didn’t make any sense at all. Felicia misses those peaceful nights with her mother […] Now they fight constantly, especially about El Líder. How her mother worships him! She keeps a framed photograph of him by her bed where her husband's picture used to be. But to Felicia, El Líder is just a common tyrant. No better, no worse than any other in the world.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:

Her daughters cannot understand her commitment to El Líder. Lourdes sends her snapshots of pastries from her bakery in Brooklyn. Each […] strawberry shortcake [is] proof—in butter, cream, and eggs—of Lourdes's success in America, and a reminder of the ongoing shortages in Cuba. […]

If only Felicia could take an interest in the revolution, Celia believes, it would give her a higher purpose, a chance to participate in something larger than herself. After all, aren't they part of the greatest social experiment in modern history? But her daughter can only wallow in her own discomforts.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Lourdes del Pino Puente, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:
God’s Will Quotes

At night, Felicia attended our ceremonies. She didn't miss a single one. For her, they were a kind of poetry that connected her to larger worlds, worlds alive and infinite. […]

Felicia's mother discouraged her devotion to the gods. Celia had only vague notions about spiritual possession and animal sacrifice, and suspected that our rites had caused her daughter's mysterious disappearance. Celia revered El Líder and wanted Felicia to give herself entirely to the revolution, believing that this alone would save her daughter. But Felicia would not be dissuaded from the orishas. She had a true vocation to the supernatural.

Related Characters: Herminia Delgado (speaker), Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:

Celia overturned the tureen with the sacred stones and crushed Felicia's seashells under the heels of her leather pumps. Suddenly, she removed her shoes and began stamping on the shells in her bare feet, slowly at first, then faster and faster in a mad flamenco, her arms thrown up in the air.

Then just as suddenly she stopped. She made no sound as she wept, as she bent to kiss Felicia's eyes, her forehead, her swollen, hairless skull. Celia lay with her torn, bleeding feet beside her daughter and held her, rocking and rocking her in the blue gypsy dusk until she died.

Related Characters: Herminia Delgado (speaker), Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino
Related Symbols: Shells
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis:
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Felicia del Pino Quotes in Dreaming in Cuban

The Dreaming in Cuban quotes below are all either spoken by Felicia del Pino or refer to Felicia del Pino. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Passion, Romance, and Marriage Theme Icon
).
The Fire Between Them Quotes

Celia is uneasy about all these potions and spells. Herminia is the daughter of a santería priest, and Celia fears that both good and evil may be borne in the same seed. Although Celia dabbles in santería’s harmless superstitions, she cannot bring herself to trust the clandestine rites of the African magic.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, Herminia Delgado
Page Number: 90
Explanation and Analysis:
The Meaning of Shells Quotes

Felicia learned her florid language on those nights. She would borrow freely from the poems she'd heard, stringing words together like laundry on a line, connecting ideas and descriptions she couldn't have planned. The words sounded precisely right when she said them, though often people told her she didn’t make any sense at all. Felicia misses those peaceful nights with her mother […] Now they fight constantly, especially about El Líder. How her mother worships him! She keeps a framed photograph of him by her bed where her husband's picture used to be. But to Felicia, El Líder is just a common tyrant. No better, no worse than any other in the world.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:

Her daughters cannot understand her commitment to El Líder. Lourdes sends her snapshots of pastries from her bakery in Brooklyn. Each […] strawberry shortcake [is] proof—in butter, cream, and eggs—of Lourdes's success in America, and a reminder of the ongoing shortages in Cuba. […]

If only Felicia could take an interest in the revolution, Celia believes, it would give her a higher purpose, a chance to participate in something larger than herself. After all, aren't they part of the greatest social experiment in modern history? But her daughter can only wallow in her own discomforts.

Related Characters: Celia del Pino, Lourdes del Pino Puente, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 117
Explanation and Analysis:
God’s Will Quotes

At night, Felicia attended our ceremonies. She didn't miss a single one. For her, they were a kind of poetry that connected her to larger worlds, worlds alive and infinite. […]

Felicia's mother discouraged her devotion to the gods. Celia had only vague notions about spiritual possession and animal sacrifice, and suspected that our rites had caused her daughter's mysterious disappearance. Celia revered El Líder and wanted Felicia to give herself entirely to the revolution, believing that this alone would save her daughter. But Felicia would not be dissuaded from the orishas. She had a true vocation to the supernatural.

Related Characters: Herminia Delgado (speaker), Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino, El Líder / Fidel Castro
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:

Celia overturned the tureen with the sacred stones and crushed Felicia's seashells under the heels of her leather pumps. Suddenly, she removed her shoes and began stamping on the shells in her bare feet, slowly at first, then faster and faster in a mad flamenco, her arms thrown up in the air.

Then just as suddenly she stopped. She made no sound as she wept, as she bent to kiss Felicia's eyes, her forehead, her swollen, hairless skull. Celia lay with her torn, bleeding feet beside her daughter and held her, rocking and rocking her in the blue gypsy dusk until she died.

Related Characters: Herminia Delgado (speaker), Celia del Pino, Felicia del Pino
Related Symbols: Shells
Page Number: 190
Explanation and Analysis: