Cuba so You Could Dress Like This?

¶ … Cuba So You Could Dress Like This? By Achy Obeja. Specifically, it will select one required discussion thread and summarize the selected thread. To summarize is to break down the content of a subject and sum up its ultimate meaning and importance. WE CAME ALL THE WAY FROM CUBA "The Spouse" is the story of two estranged people who run into each other, which brings up many old memories from their relationship - a relationship that never really meant anything.

Lupe married Raul as a business deal, so he could stay in the country. This is illegal, but it is done all the time, and these two people represent just why it is done. Raul needed an American wife to make him legal in this country, and Lupe needed money. The amusing thing about this is that he really took the marriage seriously, while Lupe simply wants it behind her.

Raul thinks Lupe needs to get in touch with her "Latin self," and Lupe just wants to get rid of him. They do not have any kind of relationship, but it is clear Raul is desperate for one. He cares about Lupe, but Lupe is cold, and does not care anything for Raul. That's pretty true, considering the fact she is a lesbian. In fact, she thinks he is a little bit crazy. Or a lot crazy.

Especially when he says he "cheated" on her, and they have not even been living together as man and wife. This is a story about relationships, and the way each of us runs from relationships, no matter what the reason is. It is also a story about good and bad. Raul is a good man, who cannot comprehend anything else. Lupe is an indifferent woman, who only sees men as objects - to marry for money but not for love.

It is kind of a reversal of the sexes, because usually it is the man who is indifferent, and the woman who is more involved. In fact, all the roles are reversed here, because Lupe is the stronger, more masculine one, who has gone to college, and Raul is the weaker one, who is dependent on her for approval, and has a menial job.

They are certainly opposites, and that is part of the point of the story, that everyone is not always what they seem, and every situation is not what it seems. Who knows how many people out there are married just for convenience? Maybe more than you think, and these two characters represent that. They are just two normal, everyday people who seem to have a problem with their relationship, but it is not the kind of problem most people have.

What else makes Raul and Lupe different? Lupe still relies on others to "save" her when Raul gets rough with her, but it is clear she is not the type of woman that needs "saving." The ax on her wrist clearly shows that, and Raul knows just what it is for, to "cut off men's balls." Lupe is the ultimate butch *****, and poor Raul really wants to make a go of it with her.

Why does such a man choose such a woman? Perhaps he believes he can save her from herself, and this is clear in his early statements about helping her find her Latin.