Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle

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Figure 1. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir book cover (2019).

Evaluation of Book

Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle shares her story as a Cuban-American girl, growing up in the 1950s through 1965. During this time, she visits Cuba twice: once prior to the Revolution in Cuba and once right before the Bay of Pigs. These historical events impact her life because of her dual heritage. Americans see her as Cuban, the enemy, while the Cubans talk about the horrible Americans. Because of the conflict between the two countries, Margarita must learn where she fits in in the world and if she can figure out how to mesh her two worlds or if they must always be separate.

Margarita Engle wrote her childhood memoir using precise vocabulary. She did this by writing her book in stanzas. Choosing poetry to tell her story allowed her to express her ideas in mini poems, sharing the stories of her travels and daily life in her two countries. When expressing key ideas that mattered, she used single word lines to emphasize them. These could be positive moments like her life turning into music because of the rhythm of Cuba. Or they could be negative moments such as during the Cuban Missile Crisis when war and death hung in the air. Each fear expressed in single words or stanzas. The combination of precise vocabulary and length of the lines of the poems allowed Margarita Engle to express her thoughts and feelings to the reader.

Figurative language also played a huge role in Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. When visiting Cuba in 1960, Margarita Engle notices that the trees dance, and that her “great grandma’s hand looks as strong / as a garden tool, even though the skin / is papery-thin, like a daytime moon” (p. 78). This image of her relative in her 90s, seeing how much she can still do while aging gives the reader more insight on how Margarita saw her Great-Grandmother. Another example, when Cuba is described as a “crocodile-shaped island / that throbs / at the center of my being, / like a living creature, / half heart / and half beast” (p. 129). Through this stanza, the author expresses how Cuba is a part of her, as though the island life has become something she needs and craves. Though my favorite expression used multiple times throughout the memoir is the idea of paper wings, which are passports with proper visas that allow a person to travel from place to place. These wings give the author and the reader hope. (Engle, 2015)

Though use of language drives the feelings and points of the story, the central part of Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir is the plot. Margarita Engle explains how it feels to be of two nations that do not like each other. From the start, she loves Cuba and can not understand why oil and money should get in the way of the US and Cuba’s relationship with each other. And when an FBI agent comes to question Mami, her mother, for receiving packages and letters from Cuba along with thinking her dad did something wrong by attending an art class given by a Communist, she does not see how any of this could be construed as wrong. But in the end, her travels in Cuba, Mexico, America, and Europe help her see that she can love all countries and people from different backgrounds. In other words, the paper wings allow Margarita Engle to learn how to love herself and others.

Response

While reading Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle, I reflected on my life as an expat. Two events solidify my slight understanding of what the author endured as a person of two nations. The first event happened when visiting Greece in 2010. An Iraqi gentleman went off on me about how his country suffered due to the Americans invading back in 2003. That his people had no money, no free education, and that everything had fallen apart because of me. He blamed me because of my paper wings. Another moment occurred in Egypt in 2013, after President Mohamed Morsi’s forced removal by the people and the Egyptian military. President Obama declared this act a disgrace and withdrew financial support for the country. The people of Egypt were livid, blaming Americans for this. They assumed all American expats were spies, trying to harm the nation. Due to this, I was verbally assaulted each time I ventured out of my apartment. These moments allow me to relate to the book and for me to strongly disagree with how Margarita was treated by Americans and her Cuban neighbors. The actions of countries should not influence how we treat others from those nations. However, Margarita’s ability to rise above all of this and learn to love both her countries plus other places she visited agrees with what I consider important to the world. If each of us puts our own negative experiences behind us and focuses on the glorious interactions we have with individuals and different cultures, then we can have internal peace and happiness, one moment at a time.

Conclusion

If you like poetry that does not rhyme and historical fiction, then Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by margarita Engle is the book for you. You get to ride on winged horses and travel different countries through her memories while also learning about the conflicts of Cuba and America. Out of four stars, this book gets all four stars.

Citation

Engle, M. (2015). Enchanted air: two cultures, two wings: a memoir. New York, NY: Antheneum Books for Young Readers.

Willis, C. (2019). Enchanted air: two cultures, two wings: a memoir book cover (photo). Retrieved April 28, 2019 from

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13AoGpvaku-CYYTAOOixGAZmO8NhuLZLF/view?usp=sharing