A Cup Of Water Under My Bed Analysis

Growing up in a home where your identity is shaped by the culture and ideas of those around you makes it extremely difficult for a child to find their own way in the world. To truly become your own person without being weighed down by your race, sexuality, gender, or beliefs is an enormous task that sadly many of us never accomplish. In Daisy Hernandez’s memoir “A Cup of Water Under My Bed” she talks about growing up with a Cuban father and Colombian mother and how her family’s views on what’s right and what’s wrong heavily influenced her choices and how she had to fight or conform to find her way. In her book, Hernandez talks about how she had to learn, adapt, and fight against the “norms” of the times and the “norms” of her culture. As we analyze Hernandez book

Alicia told them that later she followed a friend to New Jersey, because money was plentiful. Alicia told them that life in the U.S. was just like Colombia. The tales were about hard labor and the struggles she had to overcome as an immigrant women. In another chapter called “My Fathers Hands”, Hernandez goes on to talk about her father and his demons. Hernandez explains how her father was born in Cuba in 1932 and how he fought against Castro and then immigrated to the United States. She talks about all the odd handyman jobs he worked. Hernández talks about her father’s drinking problems and her struggles to understand her father. As she got older Hernandez began to understand her parents and in her father’s case began to try and come to terms with how she was treated and accept and forgive. Hernandez grew up in a home where her parents wanted what was best for her, yet wanted her to conform to her ethnic culture. Her whole life Hernandez was told what she should do and how to be Hispanic. When she was a teenager, Hernández dated and eventually moved in with Julio who was a coworker at McDonald’s.