Imagine
spending your days trapped in a place that does not feel like home; present is
a strong longing to be somewhere else. In the memoir, Enchanted Air, Newberry-honor winning author, Margarita Engle,
tells her tale of living in Los Angles but longing for her home country, Cuba.
The memoir is styled similar to poetry through the use of stanzas, and takes
place during the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). In the first section of the
memoir, Engle describes the beauty and benefit of Cuba – why it means so much
to her – by employing a simile of innocence, and imagery in order to captivate
what home represents. Engle looks back in time, and embellishes, though the use
of a simile, on the first time that her parents took her to visit family and
Cuba. She writes, “Already this Island is beginning to seem like a fairy-tale
kingdom, where ordinary people do impossible things” (Engle 7). As an innocent
child, as Engle is when experiencing Cuba’s air for the first time, the world
seems like a magical place; a place filled with color and wonder. Similarly,
that is the magical aspect to innocence, that a country has the ability to seem
like a “fairy-tale kingdom.” Engle has hope for Cuba because she recognizes
that everyone there strives for the impossible, one reason why she feels so
comfortable with those people. Presumably, she admires them. In addition, Engle
employs imagery when describing the memories of a house in Cuba. She writes,
“Cool ceramic floor tiles on a hot day, and an open-air kitchen with roll up
walls that are only needed during hurricanes” (Engle 10). The fact that Engle describes
the specifics of the house, shows that she has paid close attention, that she
cares about the little aspects. She cares because she feels at home in Cuba,
and wants to experience all that there is about it, even the floor tiles or
walls of a house.
Caption: "1950s Cuban Home Style"
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