Summary Of Isla By Virgil Suarez

“Isla” by Virgil Suarez is a poem about an immigrant mother and son originally from the Caribbean island of Cuba living in Los Angeles. As mentioned in an article by Leslie P. Perez, Cuba is a communist country and its people suffer instead of being able to live in freedom. The United States government created a paper called the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act (CAA). “This paper explores the notion that Cubans leave their country not only due to economic difficulties, but also in fear of unjust persecution and to protect their lives and fundamental liberties (Perez, L.P., 2016).” The boy and his mother left Cuba and settled in the California. Though a life of exile and settled do not exactly go together, this family are attempting to live in peace, and leave the nightmare of Cuba behind them.

“When the monster whipped its tail and destroyed, I threw a pillow across my room (Suarez, V., 2000),” is representing the young boy continuing to express his aggravation. He has hopes of releasing the tension he and his mom feel daily in their hearts and minds regarding Cuba. His mother does not approve of her son watching shows about monsters or releasing his anger as she sees what Cuba and the suffering has done to him even as a young boy. In the boy’s continued thoughts, “That monster, that island, and I knew she wasn’t talking about the movie (Suarez, V., 2000),” his mother compares Godzilla to Fidel Castro, the ruthless leader responsible for awful consequences of the Cuban people. In her anger, she declares her anger towards Castro and towards the country. The boy continues and compares the country to a reptile, “Itself a reptile-looking mass on each map, on my globe (Suarez, V., 2000), comparing its mountainous terrain to that of an