"Cuban pride"

“Cuban pride,” the attitude of bearing one’s burdens in silence and in secret, while projecting a proud outward appearance, is the reason why the characters in this novel suffer.

First mentioned in the terminal of the airport as Elisa’s family waits to leave Cuba, their pride is the source of their suffering. Being forced to act as if everything is ok, when they are being exiled from their country, when their brother and son was murdered and thrown at their feet, when they have lost everything they fought to build for themselves, is extremely difficult and uncomfortable to for the Perezes. Not only is it their coping mechanism to deal with the injustices they have been dealt, it is the very cause for their woes. Putting up an act is what Elisa regrets the most. If she had acted sooner, things could have...