Celia del Pino: A Portrait of Feminism for the Modern Day?

When reading Dreaming in Cuban, by Cristina Garcia, I was intrigued by the character Celia.  This pieced together story, spanning across decades and countries, focuses on the del Pino family and their relationships with one another.  As the matriarch of the family, Celia holds much power.  She is a woman of many roles and abilities, though knows she is not perfect.  As a mother, Celia worries that she has not done the best for her children.  Her oldest, Lourdes, has abandoned Cuba with her family for America, living a life that is foreign to Celia.  Her middle child, Felicia, stays in Cuba but is mentally unstable and a threat to herself and those around her.  Her youngest, Javier, left Cuba for Czechoslovakia (without telling his family goodbye) where he lives with his wife and daughter. He eventually returns to Cuba later after his wife leaves him and takes his daughter with her.  Celia feels less effective in her role as a mother than in her other roles, mirroring how many women feel in recent decades.  Sacrifices and shortcomings are necessary in order to "have it all."  She feels that she is partially to blame for her the problems of her children.  "How is it possible that she can help her neighbors and be of no use at all to her children?  Lourdes, Felicia, and Javier are middle-aged now and desolate, deaf and blind to the world, to each other, to her."

Celia later resumes the role of mother.  Celia cares for Felicia when she is mentally deranged.  Celia also provides comfort to her heartbroken son.  Her greatest acts of mothering, though, can likely be seen in her interactions with her grandchildren.  Celia is able to give Felicia's children the care and stability that Felicia cannot offer them.  She also mothers her grandchild Pilar from a distance by talking to Pilar at night and supporting Pilar's talents.

Celia's tenderness as a mother is balanced with her power in the community.  Celia revolutionizes the idea of what a woman's role is.  Not only are women mothers, wives, and workers, they are active and empowered in their community.  Celia, a strong believer in the revolution and communism, makes it her duty to be involved in the country's affairs.  Celia is driven by the idea of the common good and her ability to work for change.    "What would have been expected of her twenty years ago?  To sway endlessly on her wicker swing, old before her time?  To baby-sit her grandchildren and wait for death?  She remembers the gloomy letters she used to write to Gustavo before the revolution, and thinks of how different the letters would be if she were writing today.  Since her husband's death, Celia has devoted herself completely to the revolution.  When El Lider needs volunteers to build nurseries in Villa Clara province, Celia joined a microbrigade, setting tiles and operating a construction life.  When he launched a crusade against an outbreak of malaria, Celia inoculated the schoolchildren.  And every harvest, Celia cut the sugarcane that El Lider promised would bring prosperity.  Three nights per month too, Celia continues to protect her stretch of shore from foreign invaders."  Additionally, Celia serves as a civilian judge in the People's Court.  In one case, she alters the gender roles of a man when she sentences him to volunteer in the state nursery.

Finally, Celia's experiences of moving in with her aunt as a child, losing the love of her life, being abused by her husband's family, being in an asylum, and living through her daughter's death have shaped her.  Celia's life has taught her both power and compassion, both strength and tenderness.  Celia is a model of feminism for the modern day.  She shows all the capabilities of women.  Yet, as I stated previously, Celia is not perfect.  It is in her weaknesses and shortcomings that she shows women the difference between being superwoman and a superb woman.