Symbolism And Imagery In Margarita Engle's Drum Dream Girl

A wise man once said, “Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out” –John Wooden. Many people can surely agree with this statement and can relate to it in different ways. The saying about the glass half full or half empty comes to mind: if you stay positive and never get too down on yourself, then everything will work out. Based on a true story, Margarita Engle uses symbolism and imagery, to create vivid images and demonstrates how one girl’s courage changed music, in the poem “Drum Dream Girl”.

Dreams are a part of each person’s life that allows them to set goals for their future. One dream may be simple, but others allow them to achieve the impossible. There is that one goal that anyone and everyone wants to

achieve in their lifetime, just like Millo, the young girl in the poem. An American novelist and poet, Louisa Alcott once stated, “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” In this quote, Alcott explains that receiving satisfaction is not only by achieving a dream, but by following them. In the poem, “Drum Dream Girl”, the type of satisfaction Alcott stated is shown through a young girl who wants to play the drums but faces numerous obstacles due to her culture and values. Though she lives “on an island of music / in a city of drumbeats,” (Lines 1-2), “Hers is an impossible dream: only boys play drums.” (Gershowitz). An attached note reveals that, “the story is based on Millo Castro Zaldarriaga, a Chinese-African-Cuban girl who broke Cuba’s traditional taboo: a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice, person, place, or thing.” (Gershowitz). Cuba was against female drummers and in the 1930s she played with her sisters in an all-female band, Anacaona. “This book provides an example of empowerment for young girls to follow their dreams and not be stopped by their gender.” (Priske).
Dreams make up who we are.

Dreams can be powerful and are bursting with potential for future endeavors. Millo’s determination to become a drummer soon opened up opportunities, not only for her, but for many other female drummers in Cuba. Only at the age fifteen, Millo played bongo drums at a birthday celebration for U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, where she was cheered on by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She became a world-famous musician, playing with the greats of the American jazz era. Thanks to Millo, there are now many female drummers in Cuba. Millo’s courage to become a drummer is no longer an impossible dream for girls on the island. Gender differences were enormous in Cuba before the Cuban revolution. Additionally, the courage of the “Drum Dream Girl”, makes a thought come to mind about Dreamers right here in the United States. Young people who stepped forward to identify themselves with the hope of a pathway to citizenship. Brought to the United States as children, they are American in every way, except on paper. These young people went to American schools, grew up in American communities, pay taxes, and contribute to society, “but are waiting for their dream of legal citizenship.” (Kirkus Review). Millo’s story is about tenacity, equality, and following your dreams no matter what. Despite being told that only boys can play drums, and her father’s disapproval, she keeps practicing, dreaming, and drumming. She was continually reminded that girls are not allowed to play the drums, but as the poem says, “the brave drum dream girl dared to play” anyway. Imagine a ten-year-old girl of Cuban, Chinese and African descent, changing such a long-held taboo. “I believe this feminist book is very important for both girls and boys to read, as it encourages everyone to follow their dreams and show girls that they don’t need to be afraid to do anything just because they are a girl.”

(Priske).
It takes courage to do everything in life, courage helps show to never give up. In the poem, “Drum Dream Girl”, Millo had to have courage and strength to strive for what she believed in. In the story, theme is the message that is trying to be told. The theme is everywhere in a story, and Millo’s character was able to share a powerful message. The illustrations by Rafael Lopez captured the musicality of the island by using colorful colors and the surreal dream images that inspire young Millo to pursue her love of drums. “Warm blues and purples swirl against hot pinks and bright oranges – every spread is full of motion, with some of the illustrations requiring a ninety-degree turn, as if the book itself has got to dance.” (Gershowitz). Combined with the outstanding illustrations, Engle incorporated “ear-pleasing onomatopoeia (the “boom boom booming” of sticks on a timbale), copious descriptive adjectives, and thoughtful alliteration, with both lots of hard ds and softer, rolling rs appearing throughout: “Her hands seemed to fly / as they rippled / rapped / and pounded / all the rhythms / of her dream drums.” (Gershowitz). The rhythmic text tells Millo’s story and its significance in minimal words, “with a lyricism that is sure to engage both young children and older readers.” (Kirkus Review).
“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach. We never know where our dreams may take us, or what dreams we will follow. Eventually, you look what you have accomplished and think about what might have been if you followed your dream. Millo was a doer and followed her dream that changed the lives of many females, all because she had the courage and was not going to give up.