Sibling Rivalry and Reunion: Sisters in and out of Cuba (García’s The Agüero Sisters and De Aragón’s The Memory of Silence)

Abstract

In both The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia and The Memory of Silence by Uva de Aragon, the two authors develop their respective conflicts around sisters who are separated following the Cuban Revolution. In both cases, one sister remains in Cuba while the other migrates to the United States. As the two novels develop, the reader understands that we are before an allegory in which one sisters represents post-Revolutionary Cuba while the other emblemizes the new identity of the Cuban exile diaspora. The narrative tension presents the protagonists as rivals, but in both cases, their reunification says as much as about cultural relationships as it does sibling rivalries. Given the striking similarities between the two works in both discourse and theme, then, we may be tempted to presume that one story is merely a re-telling of the other; however, a textual analysis reveals identifiable differences in scope, purpose, and resolution.