Through their eyes : childhood perspectives on immigration and exile in Cuban American authors Margarita Engle, Ruth Behar, and Adrianna Cuevas

Abstract

This literary research seeks to analyze the writing of second generation Cuban American authors Margarita Engle, Ruth Behar, and Adrianna Cuevas and how they incorporate personal experience, historical antecedents, acculturation processes, and language merging in their literary works. Through childhood perspectives, these writers portray the difficulties of a bicultural and bilingual identity for young Cuban immigrants in the diaspora. The novels selected for this research, Enchanted Air, Lucky Broken Girl, and Cuba in my Pocket, give readers the opportunity to learn what it means to be Latinx in an American context. In addition, the novels reflect on the dynamic culture and history the Cuban American community has within the Latinx and American literary heritage. With the growth of the Latinx community in the United States, the works of these authors help broaden the studies on Latin American and Latinx literature, giving them the opportunity to be recognized by their work while exploring different genres.