![[Under Construction]](images/undercon.gif){kind=small}
Character Analysis
In this section, I have attempted to provide a character analysis that can hopefully assist in the reading of this novel. There is more on Emelina, Mirta, and Connie in the “Theme” section of this website.
Emelina Gonzales: married to Clavo. She does not want to have intimate relations with him, so she takes laxatives. She wants to have her 30-year marriage annulled, so she can be pronounced a senorita, or virgin. Fernandez writes, “Now she is trying to get the marriage annulled and have herself declared a senorita, and after four children!” (Fernandez, 46). Emelina's believes her oldest daughter is her “one great sin” and her other 3 are the result of Immaculate Conception. Emelina does not want her oldest daughter to “become a woman” so she performs an operation in an attempt to prevent it.
Mirta Vergara: sixty-year-old single woman, who has a problem with lying about her past and anything else that might make a story better. She lies about being wealthy, having a lover back in Cuba, being raped, and being pregnant (she is a virgin!). She is also very sexually frustrated and lonely, and she attempts to seduce a young boy named Eloy.
Eloy: the errand boy who did favors (such as bathing her) for Mirta in exchange for her memories of Cuba.
Mima (Maria de los Angeles) & Jacinto: Mima starts a plantain chip business. She has two children. Jacinto clashes very badly with his and Mima's daughter, Connie. He does not allow Connie to try out for her high school cheerleading squad. He dies in the novel.
Keith: Mima's son. He is accused of raping Mirta, and is on the run throughout most of the novel. He is running a drug ring and hiding out in the Florida Everglades.
Joaquinn (Quinn): Mima's son and Keith's brother. Becomes the pope and preaches the doctrine of “purity of Connie(his sister).” Even when the world is on the brink of a nuclear war, he still will not admit that Connie was not a virgin because he thinks it would kill his mother.
Connie: Mima and Jacinto's daughter and Keith and Quinn's sister. She has premarital sex with Bill at the advice of Dr. Kings. Longs to be a cheerleader and ultimately attempts suicide.
Billy Cloonan: Connie's American boyfriend, who is cheating on her with Marylou. He believes that God's first commandment is to multiply.
The Olsens: a white couple who lived in the Cuban-American community. Mr. Olsen begins to feel like an outsider, so he makes plans to leave the community. His wife, however does not wish to leave and is not in love with him anymore. He sets their house on fire and it is later reported that their remains were found together in a “loving” embrace.
Abuela and Michael: Abuela is Michael's grandmother. She tries to go back to Cuba on a boat, but since Michael pointed her in the wrong direction, it is almost certain she never made it. She also believes the sign of death is rain dropping backwards.
Barbarita and Manolo Gonzales: Have a daughter named Isabel, who they discover is still a virgin and are ecstatic. Barbarita is also one of the most conservative characters in this novel.