1. Eire has many experiences during his youth that result in his loss of innocence that change his adulthood. Eire is always alert of the violence and threats that occur in Cuba, even though he is sheltered from it actually occurring; he is aware of the horrible things Batista does and the threats his father receives. He first hand experiences a man trying to run from the revolution come begging to his family. His family turned him away and Eire felt much guilt. Eire is always aware of what can happen if he says or does one wrong thing. In addition there are many things that are connected with both pleasure and danger in Cuba. In Cuba, there is more freedom but at the same time less freedom. You can do more things but there is a lot more repression. For example car surfing would be illegal in America but it it is legal in Cuba where it is extremely fun but at the same time dangerous. In America there are fewer things you can do but less repression. For example he cannot find his beloved cohetes in America but he is free to believe in what he wishes. This teaches him that there is good and bad in every situation and it is best to never give up and always make the best of things. This is shown when in Chicago he does not give up on school and gets a night job.

2. Eire’s memories of pleasure and danger reconcile one another. Eire has many memories of both good and bad things that balance each other out. One example of this is his memory of getting drunk at a party at Chachi’s grandparent’s house. When he is drunk the world seems joyous and fun and Chachi, who Eire normally despises because of jokes about them marrying each other, does not seem so bad to Eire. At the same time, Eire was tormented at the dinner table when he sat facing Chachi’s house and his family would tease him and tell him he was going to marry Chachi. Also, Eire’s dreams of Jesus at the dinner table frighten him.

3. History plays a part in Eire’s parents’ imaginations and life style because their own families’ histories and pretending to be Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette influences their decisions and way of life. Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were the king and queen of France–obviously elite positions. However, both of them were eventually executed. Just as Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were elite, so are Eire’s parents–Antonio Nieto and Maria Eire. But when Eire’s mother comes to America, she struggles in a foreign place where she does not know English and she is poor. In addition, Antonio Nieto, whose family has been in Cuba for many generations, feels a strong sense of nationalism towards Cuba just as Louis XIV felt for France. Maria Eire, on the other hand, is the daughter of a political emigrant so she does not have the same sense of pride for Cuba as Marie Antoinette was not as passionate about France as her husband. Thus, it is Marie Antoinette who initiates and facilitates Eire and his brother’s journey to America because she, unlike Louis XIV, does not feel as tied to Cuba.

4. Eire is ultimately the lizard in his migration to the United States. Lizards are “pitiful victims of others’ misguided exercises of power.” Eire is the victim of Castro’s rise to power. In America, Eire blames his misfortunes on Castro and will forever resent him for that. Eire is forced away from his parents and into poverty where he is the subject of racism in the United States. This is the complete opposite of when he lived in Cuba before Castro came to power. When Castro took control of government, Eire began to realize the world changing because things such as the movies were taken away from him. A perfect example that represents why Eire is the lizard is when his hand heals after blowing up the firecracker in his hand, his skin sheds to yield his hand in perfect condition just as a lizard sheds its skin. This symbolizes the resiliency that lizards and Eire embody. Eire shows his resiliency by succeeding in America.

5. In Cuba, the elite groups benefit at the cost of others. An example of this is how the workers in Louis XIV’s courthouse perform at Eire’s demands. All these workers, as Eire clearly notices, are colored. These grievances are partly reconciled because when Castro comes to power, things are slowly taken away from the elite and Eire has a hard time adapting to this. In addition, as the communist revolution proceeds, everyone suffers and is poor, not just a certain group of people. Eire expresses his rage through his hatred of Castro and the Cuban government for changing his life. He went from a wealthy, elite boy in Cuba to a young man in America who is very poor and has to become independent when he did nothing for himself in Cuba.

6. Justice runs deep in Eire’s family. His father is so easily able to tell what is right from what is wrong that in his courtroom he is the judge, the jury, the prosecution, and the defense. Eire compares his father to the judge from the Bible story who suggested splitting the baby in half to satisfy both women. The struggle for Eire’s family is that it is being uprooted because of the injustices of Castro and communism. This history affect Eire by making him more conscious of doing what is right. When he is in America, he matures and truly takes this to heart. When Eire was a boy and he stole many things, his parents punished him by making him personally return the item and apologize to every person he took something from. This makes Eire never tempted to steal, even when he is starving in America. The revolution makes Eire realize that sometimes things just are not fair such as having to desert his life in Cuba. However this helps him become aware that the only thing he can do is work hard.

7. Eire’s sense of rage for his father develops because Eire believes that parents should do whatever it takes to protect their children. Eire feels that his father did not fulfill his duty of protecting his children because his father did not help at all to send Eire and his brother Tony to America. Eire shows his resentment for his father by changing his last name to his mother’s maiden name. Eire does not understand his father’s love and passion for Cuba, where his family has been rooted for many generations, but he still feels that his father’s priority should have been to help Eire by any means necessary.

8. When Eire arrives in America, life is the opposite for him as it was in Cuba. Eire is now at the bottom of the social hierarchy, not at the top, and he is the one who has to deal with racism and poverty. This makes him aware of how the lower classes in Cuba felt. By becoming aware of this racism, Carlos is determined to work hard to break out of this. He does this by going to school during the day and working at night.

9. I think that Eire’s ability to reconcile betrayals such as his adopted brother molesting him, his father passively allowing his sons to be swept away from him, and Castro’s revolution is very depressing, but at the same time Eire shows bravery and courage by getting through it. It is extremely difficult because just shortly after he loses some trust towards his father and adopted brother, his life completely changes in Cuba to the point where his mother decides that he and his brother must go to America in search of a better life. Eire cries in America because his life is so drastically different. Eventually, after many years of poverty and racism, Eire starts to enjoy America. He to this day, however, has not seen his father, his adopted brother, or returned to Cuba since and he will never forgive Castro, his father, or his adopted brother for what they did.

10. Eire’s mother’s impulse is to be forward-looking, privileging the modern, and American while his father favors the past, fights against the present, and ignores the future. This leads to the dissolution of the family because Eire’s mother, who is the daughter of Spanish immigrants, decides to send the children to America while his father, who’s family has been in Cuba for many generations, is strongly against it. This leads to Eire’s mother planning out everything and his father playing no role in the trip to America, which Eire is angry at his father for many years later. Also, Eire’s mother follows him to America three and a half years later and his father remains put, never seen by Eire again.

11. I do believe that Eire achieves this reconciliation because his journey to America was very burdensome and filled with struggles and conflict. However, this journey leads to good things as well. Eire meets his wife, becomes successful, and has a wonderful family in America. He finds a new home in America; one where he is free and living a better life than he would in Cuba. We learn that even when things in our life look bad, good will come out of everything because there is always a lesson to be learned and by persisting through a struggle, it benefits you greatly.

12. Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person is worked and paid according to their abilities and needs. Its lofty goals of egalitarianism are completely unachievable in today’s world and its repressive measures are completely unjustified. Communism strips people of their individual rights and any goals or future they may have. The lack of individual incentive it creates will ultimately doom society. Under communism, a person will have near impossible opportunities to better themselves because under the law everyone is equal. As the Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Everyone has the right to pursue any occupation, possession, or anything that their heart desires, communism deprives people of their dreams because, as occurred in Cuba, there is no future because there is nothing someone can do to better themselves. Perhaps the more proper form of egalitarianism is for everyone to have equal opportunities and everyone has the right to pursue their goals as the wish. Communism’s repressive measures are unjustifiable because someone should not be imprisoned for stating their opinion or pursuing their dreams. As stated above, they have the right to do as they please. In this way, communism takes people’s freedoms away as well.

13. Communism in its pure form should never be implemented, even in third world countries becasue then it will bring down the wealthy class. As history has shown, it will almost always lead to repression and the lack of rights. That being said, to create better opportunities for the lower classes of third world countries, governments should swing a little bit away from democracy by granting better access to thing such as education to the lower class. Communism is undoubtly unbeneficial for North Americans and Western Europeans because there is already a substantial middle class and everyone has access to advanced education and the things needed to be successful. It is how good the decisions they make are that will determine their life.

14. Eire feels that his experiences in Cuba made him desire to do well in America for the sake of his family. He realizes what his mother sacrificed for him and how Cubans are treated in America, so he wants to succeed to make his family proud and prove racism wrong. This is also because Eire is aware of the expense at which he lived in Cuba and in America he is at the bottom. This drives him to work hard just as the people who worked for his father did to overcome poverty and racism.

15. The proofs for the existence of G-d help Eire when he is thinking about Fidel or Batista. Fidel and Batista make Eire want to believe that there is no G-d. Eire maintains his belief in G-d because of his experiences of Ernesto’s butt falling on Eire’s head when they are body surfing and when Eire tries to fit his head through a pew. These are proofs of G-ds existence in Eire’s mind because they show our desire to test reasoning.

16. One measures justice by their own personal values and judgments of what is right and wrong or fair and unfair. Even in totalitarian states where official policies of a government are labeled as just, people must still rely on their logic and reasoning to determine what is right and wrong. When the people of those states are being treated unjustly even though the government says it is fair, people must still use their own judgment to decide if it is justified. People are born with a good sense of right and wrong, and unless they are corrupted, they should not stray from their basic morals and values to distinguish right from wrong.

17. Political emigres differ from other immigrants because other immigrants choose to move because they want to or in search of a better life, but not fleeing political repression from home. Political emigres do want to move and want a better life as well, however they are refugees because they are facing brutal repression at home. Many countries accept all political emigres that reach their land, however the same is not true for other immigrants.