The National Geographic article by Cynthia Gorney, entitled “Here Comes a Wave of Change for Cuba”, focuses on the country’s experience with the gradual return of American connections, specifically sparked by the arrival of an American cruise ship, following an embargo placed on Cuban trade with the United States over forty years ago. The author mainly targets an educated audience with a basis of background knowledge of the topic, as she serves to capitalize on pre-known information and further extend the material, while connecting to the current developments in the relationship between the two countries. Through her informal, yet serious tone, displayed through phrases such as “mashed up” and “Americanness”, she successfully advances the reader’s …show more content…
While subtly persuading the reader to believe in the strength of the Cuban people and their culture, Gorney successfully utilizes various rhetorical strategies, such as rhetorical questions and appositives. While the former evokes thought in the mind of the reader on the possibilities of tourism, when carried out in a way that keeps the potential economic benefits and the true value of the Cuban culture in mind; the latter informs the audience by clarifying terms which they might not understand at first, therefore widening their knowledge on, and familiarizing them with, the subject. The foremost example of the use of this descriptive tool appears in the description of the article’s first photograph taken “From the Malecón, Havana’s seawall”, setting a foundation of knowledge in her audience which Gorney has the ability to refer to and build on throughout the piece (Gorney). One technique artfully used by the author throughout the article proved the occasional incorporation of words from the Spanish language, as used in the explanation of an important Spanish word to mean “to manage with creative dexterity the challenges of modern Cuban life, improvisando as you go”, with the Spanish word “improvisando” in italics so as to make it stand out (Gorney). As this specific word
Whether it 's for the music, people or food, Cuba is a popular and interesting place to visit. Cuba is located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. At 42,426 square miles, Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the 105th largest country in the world. Cuba has a population of 11.1 million. Out of that 11.1 million, Havana is home to 2.1 million (Nation Facts). The official language of Cuba is Spanish, but English and French are spoken throughout the country. The most practiced religion of Cuba is Roman Catholicism, but a large number of people follow the Afro-Cuban and Protestant religions. The president of Cuba is currently Raúl Castro, which is Fidel Castro 's brother. The currency of Cuba is the Cuban peso (Cuba).
In his book Contesting Castro: The United States and the Triumph of the Cuban, Thomas G. Patterson explores Cuban relationships with the United States during the Batista and Castro regimes. In the 1950’s, when Fulgencio Batista was in power, the United States had an almost imperialistic dominance over Cuba. Patterson uses the word “Hegemony” to describe this dominance. He defines hegemony as “the dominance or preponderant influence that permitted U.S. decisions to condition Cuba’s politics, economy, culture, society, and military. U.S. hegemony empowered North Americans to set and maintain most of the rules by which Cubans lived and by which the Cuban – American relationship was governed” (7). At this time, the U.S. was imposing it self on Cuba without really understanding the people or the culture. The U.S. viewed Cubans as an “emotional, romantic, and childish people suffering from excessive pride” (6). There was obviously little respect for Cubans from the U.S. Moreover, Cubans felt that the strong, multifaceted U.S. influence was causing Cuba to loose its “independent identity” (8).
It both shows the author’s knowledge of the Spanish language as well as providing evidence to the fact that English is not the author’s only language. “Spanish seemed the language of home” demonstrates the way the
Long before our involvement, the Cubans had been leading revolts and revolutions against Spain. The Spanish empire considered Cuba to be its jewel, not only for its beauty but also for its economics. Cuba’s main source of income was from its expansive sugar plantations that greatly contributed to its wealth (more so to the Spanish Empires wealth). Ironically, even due to the high regard to Cuba, it was neglected and oppressed, as the Spanish Empire began its decline in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Empire was falling due to it slowly loosing its control over its territories, closer to the US then to Spain, because of a lack of industrializing. The Spanish would claim ownership, but never contribute back to their land. This opened the door for what is known as the 10-year war and the struggle for Cuban Independence. The United States never got directly involved, but it sympathized greatly with the Cuban’s cause, for ...
Cuba and the U.S.: The Tangled Relationship. New York: The Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom.
The U.S.’s relationship with Cuba has been arduous and stained with mutual suspicion and obstinateness, and the repeated U.S. interventions. The Platt agreement and Castro’s rise to power, served to introduce the years of difficulty to come, while, the embargo the U.S. placed on Cuba, enforced the harsh feelings. The two major events that caused the most problems were the Bays of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis.
The United States embargo of Cuba has its roots planted in 1960, 53 years ago, when “the United States Congress authorized President Eisenhower to cut off the yearly quota of sugar to be imported from Cuba under the Sugar act of 1948… by 95 percent” (Hass 1998, 37). This was done in response to a growing number of anti-American developments during the height of the cold war, including the “expropriation of United States-owned properties on the island… [and] the Soviet Union [agreeing] to purchase sugar from Cuba and to supply Cuba with crude oil” (Hass 1998, 37). Bad sentiments continued to pile up as Cuba imposed restrictions on the United States Embassy and especially when, after the United States “officially broke off diplomatic ties with Cuba, and travel by United States citizens to Cuba was forbidden ... Castro openly proclaimed his revolution to be ‘socialist’” (Hass 1998, 38). The day after this, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, but it failed in its job to topple Castro (Hass 1998, 38). Left with no diplomatic options and a failed military attempt, the United States decided that the only way to end Castro’s socialist regime was to sever all ties, and from 1961 to 1996, a series of acts were passed prohibiting the majority of trade and interaction with Cuba. (Hass 1998, 38).
For the general survey, I have interviewed my classmate, Cynthia Obaigwa. Her height is 5’3 feet, which is equivalent to 63 inches. Her weight is 107lbs or approximately 49 kg. The vital signs are T 37C, P 70, R18, BP 106/68.
With assertive shouts and short tempers, the prominent character, Ricardo, is characterized as a feisty townsman, doing nothing except trying to protect his town and its members from the judgments of the western world. For example, the characterization of the “‘…quaint’” man is exemplified through the simplicity of his life and the fact that he is “‘…employed’” and is full of knowledge, not a “‘cow in the forest’” (55, 29, 32). Ricardo desperately wants to establish the notion that he is not a heartless, feebleminded man, only an indigent, simple man striving to protect his friends and family from the criticisms of callous cultures. Incessantly Ricardo attempts to make it clear to the photographer the irritation elicited by his prese...
Fidel Castro, resigned now, and still living, was the dictator of the Cuban nation. He has had an big impact on America, and he an impact on our world. Fidel Castro was a Cuban dictator for a long time coming. Fidel Castro becoming a dictator not only affected the United States, but his arrival affected the world around us.
“You can leave [Puerto Rico], master the English language, and travel as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, . . . the island travels with you,” an excerpt from the biographical essay written by Judith Ortiz Cofer is a likeness to her life as a developed, and educated Latin woman facing stereotypes in an Anglo world. By making statement Cofer is referring to her feelings of being unable to escape the stereotypes associated with her Latin heritage. The author continues by relating an island to being more like Alcatraz than a tropical paradise, by making these statements I believe that Cofer wanted us to visualize an Island which is surrounded by water and isolated, and made reference to Alcatraz so that we can acknowledge her feelings
Between April and October of 1980, over 125,000 people fled to the United States from Cuba. This massive exodus became known as the “Mariel boatlift.” The Mariel boatlift was the third-wave of emigration from Cuba since Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. The Mariel exodus was also the largest. The simple answer to why the boatlift began is to say that the Cuban people were fleeing communist oppression. The simple answer is not incorrect; however, it is incomplete. There were a plentitude of factors which contributed to the Mariel boatlift’s occurrence. These factors date back to the decay of U.S.-Cuba relations when Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, and expanded as the result of the Cuban recession of 1979 and 1980 and disenchantment with the revolution. To add, the Mariel boatlift left a serious impact on the United States as the flood of emigrants continued over the five month period. Not only did the boatlift lead to the loss of Carter’s 1980 election campaign, it also exposed major issues in Fidel Castro’s regime.
On this day 191 years ago John Quincy Adams expressed his prediction for the future of Cuban-American contact. The Cuban wars of independence were only 15 years away from his prediction when he estimated. These independence wars continue to influence Cuba’s cultural and political attitude toward Europe and the United States; This in part due to the externalities involved in the remodeling of social structure in the aftermath of the revolution. The intentions and motives of each faction: rebels, United States government, Spanish government, United States public, and the Cuban public, varied widely to an extend that caused even more concern in the future. Depending on the point of view of an outsider the situation in Cuba seemed to be a continuation of revolution...
In various articles written about Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco’s visit to Cuba, the emphases are placed on different points, as the event is described from various angles. The Cuban newspaper Granma goes into more depth about Blanco and her entourage’s activities during their visit to Cuba, as well as giving a more detailed background of pertinent information about United States-Cuba relations, in the context of the embargo. La Nueva Cuba approaches the event from a different angle by providing more specifics about how this particular transaction will take place. There is also a brief compare and contrast of the ways that the United States and other nations choose to deal with Cuba, especially in matters of financing purchases. The Daily Advertiser chooses yet another facet of the issue to focus on. Because it is a Louisiana paper, it has a more domestically-oriented agenda. As a result, the article centers on Louisiana and Blanco, rather than Cuba and the United States as a whole. None of these reports reflect particularly badly on either Cuba or the United States, though each reporter’s preference is shown by the particular scope through which the respective pieces are written.
However, the US played a much larger role in Cuba’s past and present than the building of casinos and the introduction of the first taints of corruption. In the past, even before Batista, Americans were resented by Cubans because the Americans made a lot of Cuba’s decisions. Under Batista, 80% of Cuban imports came from the US, and the US controlled at least 50% of sugar, utilities, phones and railroads. If Cuba was a business in the stock markets, then the US would have been close to owning 50% of its shares. When combined with a long history of US-backed leaders, and US involvement, it is understandable that Cubans begrudged the Americans....