Anna in the Tropics Essay Questions

What does the play teach us about Cuban-American life and heritage in the 1920s?

We learn a great deal about Cuban heritage from this play. The predominant thing that we learn is that Cuban-Americans are keen to hold on to the traditions of their ancestral country, even if they have never been there. As we know from both Cruz's own historical research and the context clues provided by Cheché in the play, American factories at the time were switching away from having a lector entertain the workers and towards mechanization. Cuban tradition, however, is to have a lector or reader to keep the workforce abreast with literature and news, as part of a ritual that dates back to the Taino Indians. This tradition is carried on in Santiago's cigar factory despite the fact it is in Florida, not Havana; further, we see that almost all of the factory's workers are in agreement that having a lector around is valuable.

Another thing we learn about Cuban heritage in the play is that Cuban-Americans are very down-to-earth people, able to discuss their dreams in the open while still acknowledging that they may have a very small chance of coming true. So too do we learn about the centrality of the family in the Cuban-American household: all of the family are involved with the management of the factory, and it seems they find their work there to be honorable and fulfilling. Finally, while a great deal of what Cruz shows us is positive with regard to Cuban culture, he also puts machismo on full display—note, after all, how keen Palomo and Cheché originally are to dominate the women in their life, denying them the luxuries they enjoy and claiming ownership of them, despite how erroneous this notion may be.

How does the play portray literature and, specifically, Anna Karenina?

Literature is presented in the play as a multifaceted catalyst, one that both propels characters into conflict and accelerates them towards positive self-discovery. In terms of the former, note how the reading of Anna Karenina—a wintertime romance of Russia's social upper crust—spurs Conchita and Palomo to argue with each other about the privilege of taking on a lover, something that Palomo has done for himself but denies Conchita. Note also how the text causes Marela to fall into fantasies of escapism and true love, decreasing her work output and putting her at odds with Cheché. Cheché, for his part, is also aggravated by the text insofar as it makes him more angry and antagonistic out of grief for the loss of his estranged wife.

At the same time, however, literature in the novel is presented as something which can help someone navigate the contours of their own existence more easily. For example, consider how Palomo and Conchita are able to eventually rediscover the magic, openness, and transparency in their marriage by watching how Anna, Vronsky, and Anna's husband interact. Similarly, note how Santiago and Ofelia are able to reconcile and relight the fire of Santiago's devotion to his work after discussing Kitty and Levin. Phrased most succinctly, then, literature in the play is just as Palomo says—something which, like alcohol, can either bring out the best or worst in someone, depending on their mood. Anna Karenina, though seemingly quite disparate from the world of the play's setting, is thus a perfect example of this: despite the clear differences between the two worlds, real literature is powerful and universal enough to inspire cross-reactions and mutations between them.

Explain Conchita's feelings about her affair with Juan Julian. Why does she feel this way?

Despite the fact that Conchita takes great physical and emotional pleasure in her affair with Juan Julian, she is consumed by guilt over the affair and still has deep feelings for her husband, Palomo. Like Anna in Anna Karenina, Conchita allows Juan Julian into her life because she believes that Juan Julian can teach her to love again—to love not just another physically, but also to love herself once more as a woman. However, like Anna, Conchita also feels a deep sense of guilt about this affair, even going so far to put up walls with Juan Julian (i.e., only having sex with him in the factory and looking sad in their moments together) and to admit to Juan Julian that she still loves her husband. She wants to gain control of her life again and not feel so trapped in a static relationship with Palomo (who himself is having an affair), and so her affair with Juan Julian seems to come naturally and without major self-reflection, but note that, after beginning the affair, she inspires a new reaction in Palomo. Specifically, Palomo becomes jealous of Conchita and tries to win her back by opening himself up and making love to her in new ways, things that he would have never surrendered himself to in the previous stage of their relationship. In sum, then, much as in Anna Karenina, Conchita's affair leaves her feeling deeply conflicted yet strangely enriched; at the same time, however, note that in Cruz's play, Conchita's partner responds and learns from her affair in a way that suggests potential growth in healing for their marriage, unlike Anna and her husband in Tolstoy's novel.

In what ways do tradition and modernity clash within Anna in the Tropics? What message does Cruz convey about modernity by illustrating these conflicts?

The tension between tradition and modernity are at the center of Anna in the Tropics. Most notably, this takes the form of the debate between the play's characters regarding the direction of the Alcalar family's cigar factory. While Ofelia, Santiago, their daughters, and the majority of their workers would prefer to keep a lector employed at the factory in order to continue an age-old tradition, Cheché and Palomo are initially more in favor of firing Juan Julian and bringing in machines to speed up the worker's efforts. Particularly in Act 2, Scene 1, Juan Julian's response to Cheché's arguments brings up the central point that Cruz is trying to advance about modernity in his play—that is, that so-called "modern" life often places too great an emphasis on speed, efficiency, and productivity for one to fully enjoy the luxuries and leisure activities they may have once thought integral to life. Thus, one cannot always say that more modern ways of living and working are superior, especially if they compromise one's core values that are rooted in a more historic or traditional worldview. Note also that tradition and modernity clash similarly in the play's understanding of female sexuality and independence, as well as its treatment of the Alcalar's new cigar line (which, in using imagery of the cold Russian winters, flies in the face of the traditional tropical and exotic branding of cigars).

Trace Palomo's growth as a husband over the play. What comment is Cruz making through this character?

At the start of the play, Palomo is the very picture of machismo, taking on a lover and treating his wife coldly, while also denying her the same power to take a lover and refusing to communicate with her openly about his affair. Moreover, in his possessiveness and jealousy directed at Conchita and her affair with Juan Julian, respectively, Palomo often aligns himself with Cheché and advocates for the dismantling of the lector tradition at the Alcalar factory. Over time, though, Palomo's jealousy exposes his true care for Conchita, which allows him to communicate with her openly about her affair, and he learns that one of the things Conchita appreciates about Juan Julian is his ability to surrender himself completely to her (i.e., that he seems to bridge the masculine and the feminine in a dynamic and empathetic way). From here, then, Palomo attempts to win his wife back by loving her in the same way as Juan Julian and, when Juan Julian is eventually killed by Cheché, he decides to fill Juan Julian's place as lector at the factory by reading to the workers from Anna Karenina. Thus, over the course of the play, Palomo goes from a hyper-masculine figure who lets his emotions get the best of him (like Cheché) to a caring and more tender man who is not afraid to expose himself and his emotional state to his wife. In the character of Palomo, then, Cruz provides a model for how intimate relationships ought to be conducted, as well as a compelling example of why machismo and toxic chauvinism ought to be dismantled.