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THEME
There are several different themes associated with this novel, two of which I have listed below.
Cuban Identity: Throughout the novel, the older generation is trying to hold onto their culture and language. Barbarita “nostalgically remembers engagements back in the island, in that Cuba of years gone by, when and where premarital sex did not exist.” Coming to America must have been quite a shock for these exiles! To come from a world where morals are still held in high regard to a country where money, convenience, and what- feels- good- must- be- all -right is the motto, must have really confused the exiles. Not only are they trying to hang onto their beliefs, but also their language is threatened. There is a patrol group in the novel, which searches for and “prosecutes” any non-English speaking people. When the exiles came to America, they were leaving their home. Now, they are trying to call a foreign world “home” and perhaps feel as if they do not fit in in America either. This displacement increases their longing for and maybe even over glorifying Cuba.
Women and Sexuality in Raining Backwards show how going from one culture to another can be confusing.
Henry Perez says, “With the passing of time, the Cuban exiles in this fictional work become assimilated to the majority American culture that surrounds them.”
Perez provides a detailed analysis of three of the women in Raining Backwards:
- Emelina Gonzales: very naïve concerning sexual matters. She says, “I was as innocent as a two-year-old when I went to the altar. I didn't even know that babies came from Paris in a stork's bill” (Fernandez, 127). Emelina used to take laxatives so she would not have to engage in sexual relations with her husband.
Fernandez uses absurdities and grotesqueness to show how far Emelina will go to keep her daughter, Linda Lucia, from reaching puberty. Perez writes, “Emelina, a woman educated to see sexuality as a sin, has a terrible relationship with her older daughter, Linda Lucia, whom she considers proof of her one great sin. When Linda Lucia is about to reach her physical maturity in exile, Emelina won't allow it by using needle and thread. This monstrous ‘operation' can be seen as the result of not only deep psychological problems on Emelina's part, but also as a reflection of economical and political points of view as well”(Perez).
- Mirta Vergara: a sixty-year-old single woman. Perez claims that “Mirta's personality can be explained by two psychological problems that are bound together in the plot of the novel: her constant lying and her sexual frustration.”
Mirta makes up outrageous stories about her past in pre-Castro Cuba. She even goes as far as to barter her “memories” in exchange for chores and other needs with Eloy, a young boy. Perez says, “The reader witnesses how Mirta attempts to seduce this young boy. Once again sexuality is tied to the theme of exile…the relationship soon evolves into child abuse. The boy has to help her bathe and she enjoys being lathered up by him. Sexuality falls again into a carnivalesque world where the intimacy of the bath is mixed grotesquely with the needs of the human body, like helping her blow her nose or remove the blackheads from her back.” Mirta tells her friends, however, that Eloy has sexually assaulted her.
Mirta also uses writing to vent her sexual frustration and loneliness. She writes a fictional story and a letter to Helen Kings, Ph.D. Perez writes, “The purpose of the letter is multiple; it serves to ‘link with [another woman] through correspondence,' to ‘create an ideal version of [herself],' and it shows how ‘writing substitutes for the act of lovemaking' (91). (Perez).
- Connie Rodriguez: a girl who is stuck between two cultures and searching for her own identity. Perez writes, “The influence of American culture is seen in Connie's choice of a sport, American football, and a boyfriend from the majority culture. Both preferences are linked to sexuality and the clash of two cultures.”
Connie also experiences racism when her American boyfriend and his other (American) girlfriend make fun of her because she is Cuban. Connie, not knowing how to keep her boyfriend, also writes a letter to Dr. Kings. She receives this reply: "Go to the drugstore and buy a diaphragm!" (Fernandez, 94).
Perez comments on Connie's letter: “Connie's letter and poem do not create a sexual fantasy as Mirta's do; instead they are a reflection of her sexual confusion due to living between two cultures” (Perez).
The second one deals with the title of the novel, Raining Backwards, which is an impossibility. Just as it is impossible for rain to drop backwards, it is also impossible for these exiles to return to Cuba. This idea is shown when Abuela tries to return to Cuba, but never makes it because her grandson read the map upside down and told her the opposite direction. This could possibly symbolize the exiles as a whole, “raining backwards,” or going in the opposite direction of where they truly feel they belong. It is futile, at least at this point in time for them to return to Cuba.