Goodby Mother By Reinaldo Arenas

“Goodby Mother,” a short story written by Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas, tells the story of five children and their experiences with the death of their beloved mother. The short story is said to be an allegory for the Cuban Revolution. To better understand the connection between the two it is important to know not only the background of the Cuban Revolution, but also the background of the author himself, Reinaldo Arenas. Reinaldo Arenas was born into poverty in a small town in Cuba in 1943. Arenas was a part of the Cuban Revolution that ushered Fidel Castro in to power, but soon abandoned the cause after he became aware that Castro was against homosexuality. Since Arenas was openly gay his writings were no longer allowed to be published in Cuba, so he began to smuggle the books out of the country to be published. Later on, Arenas spent three years in prison for his writing and open homosexuality, cementing his distaste for the “new” Cuba under Fidel Castro’s power. Soon after being released from prison, Arenas came to the United States and settled in New York where he began writing furiously - mostly about his homeland. He wrote essays, lectures, novels, and many other forms of literature up until his death. Reinaldo Arenas committed suicide in

After the Cuban Revolution, author Reinaldo Arenas and the people of Cuba began to feel detached and isolated from their homeland. Like in the story, the thing that they loved the most had changed greatly and they wondered if this was the same country. The same can be said of the children in “Goodbye Mother.” After the mother dies, Arenas goes into great detail to describe how their beloved mother is changing. For example, “Each time I go past the bedhead I scrutinize her face, which seems to get progressively longer and stranger, till be the following nightfall I can hardly recognize her.”