Once the Sun Comes Up

Once the Sun Comes Up is a collection of short stories in the form of a memoir narrating the experience of growing up in a post-Soviet Cuba in the early 2000s, as well as the immigration process endured by the author and his mother when migrating to the United States in 2016. The relationship between memory and storytelling serves as the main topic of the memoir, as the author relies on stories told over family gatherings, as well as photographs from this time of his life, to fill in the gaps present on his memories. This memoir visits a unique period in Cuban history, still at the time under the rule of Fidel Castro Ruz as the Commander in Chief, as it presented the island with a new set of difficulties as it struggled to find its own identity as a newly independent republic after the end of the Cold War. Patriotism, disguised as indoctrination, served as the guideline by which society must adhere, from the classroom to the homes. Patria o Muerte (Homeland or Death), meant no room for criticism, which led to the ideological discrimination and persecution of those who dared voice their opposition to the Cuban communist party.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

Texas State University

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Vila Pena, Diego

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Valencia-García, Louie Dean

• memoirs
• storytelling
• immigration
• indoctrination
• memory

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/20008

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/20008