Guantanamera

The biggest aspect of Cuban culture that jumped out the most to me is the idea that Cuban men are ladies men or other wise known as "players". It all started from the very beginning when Mariano was in the truck with Marilius and once they were "finished" he was done with her. When Marilius told him that she was pregnant it was really over! I did not catch the name fo the man that Mariano was riding in the truck with, but they had a discussion about how you need to be kind to your wife at home, but basically once on the road you could do what ever you wanted and have different women along the way and that was what Mariano did. The man with him did try to tell him that he should try to settle down and be with one woman. Mariano had women along the way such as the railroad operator, Hilda, who threw herself at Mariano and he was not actually so willing because he had run into Georgina whom he knew from his college days and had feelings for her. Mariano also went to the gas station and the man with him had told him that he had too many girls along the way, but once he got there Wina, the woman that he knew told him she had gotten married. Mariano did start realizing that maybe he did need to settle down and once he had run into Georgina so many times he realized his feelings for her.

Another aspect of the Cuban culture is how along the way to get Aunt Yoyita's body to where it needed to be the caravan ran across many people who needed their help. For instance, the pregnant lady who was on labor and needed to get to the hospital, they took her to teh hospital even though it was back tracking for them. They were not able to tell them no. The people along the street that needed rides into teh next town and were picked up by Mariano and the other man ( whose name I do not know). In a cold climate culture people would have just kept driving and not looked back.

The idea that men are dominate and the women are to be subserviant was evident when Georgina was shopping with Aunt Yoyita and her aunt told her to buy the dress, but Georgina said that she never goes out and that Adolfo does not like low cut dresses. When Georgina begins to realize her feelings for Mariano and wants to become her own person so that she does not allow for her true love to pass by again as her aunt's did, she buys the same dress knowing that Adolfo will not like it. Adolfo calls her a slut and begins to attack her. This is another example of how Cuban culture is represented, the men are the boss. However, with several of the last movies that we have seen, it is apparent how much the roles are changing and the women are feeling more empowered to stand up for themselves and that is what happened in the end with Georgina and Mariano finally being able to be together.