Themes and Concerns

• Literature--what people read indicates their character.
• Arenas offered five texts which include: Bible, Kafka, Robert Louis Stevenson, Melville--access to Forbidden knowledge (similar to the libraries in Of Love and Other Demons).
• Spirit world in nature (animism)
• Dances seemed ritualistic (drums, related to Voodoo)
• Escapism--lewd dancing, drunkenness, balloon
• Individual versus the community
• Contraband--whether material goods or ideas expressed in writing
• Persecution of the artist
• Alientation of writer
• Categorization of gays--those who are openly gay and those who must hide it
• Sexual revolution-revolting against Castro
• Soundtrack from Aguirre Wrath of God--parallel between conquistador with delusive hopes and Arena searching for intellectual and sexual freedom
• Exile in New York--like Jose Marti
• Marieletas--1980's Cuban refugees
• No real money in publishing