#15 - The Lightning Dreamer: Cuba's Greatest Abolitionist by Margarita Engle

  Just The Basics

    Published: September 15, 2015

    Genre: Historical Fiction, Novel in Verse. 

    Pages: 192 pages

    Acknowledgements: PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (2014)

        "The poems Tula recites / fall onto my ears / like shooting stars / or flowers / in a storm wind, / plummeting towards earth / instead of drifting." 

    "The Lightning Dreamer" is a historical fiction novel in verse about Cuban feminist and abolitionist poet Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. Poet Margarita Engle fictionalizes Avellaneda's life in Cuba from 1827 to 1829, then follows "Cuba's greatest abolitionist " to her life in Spain from 1836 onward. Although this is a work of fiction, much of Avellaneda's writing is said to come from real-life conversations, and in Lightning Dreamer's collection of free-verse poems, these characters are explored as real-life relationships. Back when arranged marriage was the norm, and miscegenation was an extreme and illegal taboo, fourteen-year-old "Tula" (as Avellaneda was called) grapples with the brutality of slavery around her, her mother's expectations, the power she finds in the poems of José María Heredia, and her exile to the countryside due to her radical beliefs. Engle explores Avellaneda's life in the same poetic medium, as Avellaneda was able to express her thoughts on power, love, and freedom years before either feminism or abolition were accepted in the Americas. 

    Why "The Lightning Dreamer"?

    When I read about Engle's work on a list of top YA works of the past ten years, I was confused about what this book would even read like. I have little experience with novels in verse already, so adding some historical fiction made me anxious to get a hold of this book (I had my mom check it out from the Douglas County Library; JeffCo had no copies). What I found interesting in the concept was only made more so in the actual construction of the work. Engle tells the story of Avellaneda's life through a series of first-person free verse poems. Each poem is from the perspective of a character, whether it's Tula herself, her brother, her mom, or the fictional "Sab" who is a personification of Avellaneda's main character in her novel also named Sab. None of the poems is very long; however, the mosaic they create thematically paints a stark image of a time in Cuban history when both Black people and women were inslaved. Black and brown Cuban people in chattel slavery, women in arranged marriages with men almost two decades older than them, enslaved for a dowery at the age of fourteen. This book was worth the effort to track down, because I think this book is a gem of a poetic look at history and an underscoring of how abolition and feminism intersect. 

    Teaching Considerations

     I haven't found a better book for cross-curricular study. In a dream unit, the life of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, José María Heredi, and Cuban independence could be taught in a social studies or Spanish class, and then The Lightning Dreamer could be taught in an English class. I think this book would be a great full-class study. It is short enough to mostly read aloud, but the poems and how they are sequenced are so pregnant with meaning that they allow for deep analysis. I think the concept of arranged marriage for fourteen-year-olds to grown men might be disturbing for younger readers, and along with some depictions of violence against enslaved people, I think this book should stay out of the hands of middle schoolers. High school-age students from 9th to 12th grade could comprehend this book and its complex themes, even more so if these students can somehow access this text and its themes in multiple content areas.  

      Sections to Read Aloud  & Reasoning

Please note: all titles of the poems indicate who is speaking, so refer to citations for the exact location. 

1. Tula 

• "Today I released / my caged goldfinch. / Mama scolded me bitterly, / but I do not care, because today / one small, winged creature / has finally learned / how to fly!" (Ebook page 32)

    Once Tula is engaged to the man she will eventually run away from, her grandfather gifts her a goldfinch as a pet. She hates keeping it, hating its small cage, seeing herself in the bird's captivity. This poem and the series of poems around it create a deep sense of sorrow for Tula and the reality of being a young girl in this time. This poem would be great to read aloud in class because its easily accessible metaphor, its emotional, and its historical context. 

        2. Sab

• ''Tula has refused to marry / the man on the spirited horse. / She calls my request horrible, / insisting that marriage / without love / is just one more / twisted / form / of slavery" (Ebook page 50)

    The above selection from one of the Sab poems is the clearest expression of the theme of slavery and arranged marriage in the book. This poem may not be as full of symbolism as the last selection; however, the style of this poem is emblematic of how a lot of Engle's free verse poems read. This philosophic, yet still somehow almost conversational, meter and diction both communicate the meaning of each work, but in part talk to the other poems in their juxtaposition. 

    Overall Thoughts

        The Lightning Dreamer was one of my most unique reads for this list. I not only enjoyed its poetic style, but I think Engle's work had an artful touch in memorializing the life of Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. What is fascinating is that this book honored Tula without exactly retelling her life story. Some of the fictionalized characters actually were the most compelling; these characters just existed to help personify important topics in Avellaneda's work or characters in her own stories. I was impressed that reading poetry from charaters based on characters based on possible anecdotal encounters could work so well in communicating a point. The poetic focus on love, freedom, living life for oneself, and the journey life takes you on were made to feel important, universal, and truly cherished by Avellaneda when she was alive. 

    Future Explorations

     Are there any more historical fiction poetry books? I am interested in checking out more of Engle's works, even if that means I have to read a few picture books. I knew nothing about the Cuban move for independence, the Cuban abolition of slavery, or these forced marriage practices. I think there is power in learning about history through poetry, and this is something new I have discovered through reading this book. Conceptually, understanding the emotionality of history through artfully crafted language somehow makes learning about history feel more fulfilling than just learning facts and dates.