Cuban Writer Reinaldo Arenas - 1499 Words

During an interview in 1983, printed in the New Yorker just last year, Reinaldo Arenas was asked, â€Å"Does a writer have a duty to himself and to society?† Arenas replies that it is indeed the job of the writer to write their best, but defines that as â€Å"when a writer writes, he’s always referring to a social and historical context.† Arenas was a Cuban writer, exiled for being openly homosexual and rebelling against the Cuban government through his written works. He was also very autobiographical in his work, and as it would appear in his New Yorker interview, this is where his passion and writing flourished. Reinaldo Arenas used his own marginalized voice as openly homosexual man in Cuba and commentary on Castro’s regime to challenge the†¦show more content†¦Castro’s revolution placed the utmost importance on the society and called for a surrender of the individual. By 1965, Castro created UMAP camps (Military Units to Assist Producti on), which were agricultural labor camps operated by the Cuban government. The camp’s inmates consisted of gay men and any other â€Å"counterrevolutionary† kind of people. It was in one of these camps where Arenas placed his fictional character, Arturo, in his story â€Å"The Brightest Star.† This is a fictional story of Arturo’s experience in one of these labor camps. Arenas’ motivation for writing is very apparent in this work as he, as opposed to the Cuban regime, is in full support of the individual and their right to express themselves even in a very oppressed state, in this specific case a labor camp. Arturo is a dreamer and uses his writing to create and alternative world to rise above the real world oppression. When Arturo was first selected to be taken to the camp, Arenas employs the use of gay stereotypes by the officials in choosing who to arrest, â€Å"young men being carried out these days under the absurd pretext that one young mans hair was too long, or that another wore clothes of a certain cut or (most fatal) exhibited certain telling traits, had certain ‘mannerisms’† (65). The guards in the labor camp, as mostShow MoreRelatedBefore Night Falls Essay1365 Words   |  6 PagesFalls In the novel, Before Night Falls by Reinaldo Arenas who lived from 1943 to 1990, the author conveys many subjects and captures the reader to the full extent. Reinaldo Arenas, the author and the person who lived the experience writes this book for us in hopes of capturing our feelings and sympathy of the Cuban Revolution. Arenas wrote over twenty books, including ten novels and numerous short stories and poems. Arenas was not the only writer affected though as he states that, â€Å"All the literatureRead MoreAnalysis Of Reinaldo Arenas And The Cuban Revolution1656 Words   |  7 PagesReinaldo Arenas lived and in an era of great oppression known as the Cuban Revolution, which he helped bring to power in 1959. If understood precisely, the short-story is really complex to percept. The conduct of characters is by all accounts absurdly improper and past any laws of human spirit and sound judgment. Luckily, the suggestion to the Cuban Revolution and the creator s disposition to it ge t to be evident from the first paragraphs. Death not only signifies sorrow but can also be freedom