Tropical Forests
Notice that it says “tropical” forests and not “rain” forests. The very name of so much of the topology of the land discussing in this tome is very suggestive of how the interlopers came in, judged by their own perceptual reasoning, and applied what they knew to what they failed to understand:
“the exuberant vegetation of tropical forests produces a misleading impression. Outsiders think of these forests as `jungles,’ a word that suggests overpowering, unstoppable fertility. Thus, a 1949 geography text speaks of `the relentless fecundity and savagery of the jungle.’ In fact, the breathtaking vitality of tropical forests resides in living things, such as insects, trees, and the various tree-dwelling epiphytes that have no roots in the ground, and not in the soils at all.”
Decent People
Ever wonder what the phrase “decent people” really refers to when it used? Such an odd bit of wording to use to separate people as if one can define “decency” according to groups. Individuals are decent and or indecent and if a bunch of them get together, this is still true. Nothing is so all-purpose as to describe a given group as being more decent than another. Or, then again, maybe not:
“The so-called decent people zealously patrolled the perimeters of their privileged social space. Diamond jewelry or an ostentatious coach with matched horses driven by a uniformed servant could help the daughters of a mestizo general get a foot in the door of `decency,’ so to speak, but those already inside held new arrivals to strict standards of behavior and fashion. The daughters of the mestizo general might buy the most costly materials for their dresses, but did they have the most up-to-date Parisian pattern? Did they know proper ballroom etiquette? Could they play the piano? If so, how well?”
Liberation Theology
“The eighty-two invaders many of them idealistic, middle- class kids—crowded aboard an incongruous assault vehicle, an old yacht with the unwarlike name, ironically in English, Granma. Their landing in Cuba did not go well, partly because local peasants alerted the army, and only a handful of the Granmas assault force survived to make history. In the meantime, they made legend, beginning with the often-specified number of remaining fighters: twelve, the number of Christ's disciples”
The imagery above sounds suspiciously like a failed attack against an oppressive regime. Perhaps it is describing what took place during the humiliating CIA-backed failure popularly known as the “Bay of Pigs.” After all, anti-communist fervor in the U.S. has considered itself within the zeitgeist of working on orders from God. In fact, the imagery above is describing something else entirely. Two of those twelves failed revolutionaries aboard Granma became so famous that they need only be referred to by their first names: Fidel and Che.
Diego Rivera
Two other historical figures that show up in the book who are instantly recognized by on their first name to millions are husband and wife artists Diego River and Frida Kahlo. Imagery is used efficiently and effectively to convey both the aesthetic power and the political stimulation of the vast murals for which Rivera was famous:
“Diego Rivera was huge, ugly, magnetic, and brilliant. He was a muralist, a public painter whose works covered walls and ceilings. He painted like a tornado for days straight, eating, even sleeping on the scaffold…Cortes, resembling a troll, looks on as the conquerors slaughter, enslave, and count gold. Riveras nationalist message is vivid—and likely to remain so: he painted al fresco, on wet plaster, so that his murals became permanent, part of the walls themselves.”
