Analysis Of The Short Story Goodbye Mother By Reinaldo Arenas

“Goodbye Mother” is a short story about the death of a mother of four girls and a boy. The story is told from the brothers’ point of view. The sisters were named Otilia, Odilia, Onelia, and Ofelia. After the mother died the five children went into a trance chanting around their mother for days. The brother fell out of the madness and watched as his sisters continued to praise their mother, oblivious to the stench and the look of the decomposing body. After a few more days the sisters decided the mother wants them to join her, so one by one they committed suicide. With the brother left standing he had a choice to join in on the madness or not and he chose to leave feeling like a traitor but a happy one at least.

The author of the short story is Reinaldo Arenas. Arenas was born July 16, 1943 and died December 7, 1990. Arenas was born in Oriente province in eastern Cuba. He grew up in poverty and lived with his mother and her family. His mother taught him to write. Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and essayist who fled persecution under Fidel Castro and immigrated to the United States in 1980. As a poet in Cuba Reinaldo Arenas had to hide and even destroy some of his work to avoid being prosecuted. His work was so forbidden he had to smuggle it out of the country. His extraordinary novels are often described as unconventional for their dark undertones. Arenas was sent to prison for his writings and smuggling his work outside the country. He wasn’t allowed to write anymore because his work went against the beliefs of the country. Reinaldo Arenas left Cuba in 1980 and committed suicide in 1990 as a free man.

The setting of the story is Cuba an island located in the northern Caribbean. Havana is the capital of Cuba and the largest city of the island. It’s the largest island in the Caribbean measuring 110,860 square kilometers. It is populated with about 11 million people. The official language is Spanish. The story takes place during the Cuban Revolution. The Cuban Revolution was a revolt constructed by Fidel Castro. The revolution started in July 1953 and ended January 1, 1959. Castro was assisted by 120 on the attack of Moncada army barracks. Castro failed and was sent to prison. When released in 1955 Castro met Che Guevara in Mexico and began his ways once again. With the assistance of Guevara and allies who were against the authoritarian government, the revolution was in play again. In 1957 the army was beginning to form with the new recruits that were coming in. In 1958 Fulgencio Bastista tried to stop the revolt with a massive attack but failed. Castro attacked back and took control on January 1, 1959.

With Bastista’s government down and taken over by Fidel Castro it was now established as a communist government. Castro’s allies during the revolution became the communist party in October 1965. Based on the history on the author and when the story takes place, the mother represents Cuba and the brother is the author and the sisters represent the struggle the author had while living there. When the siblings were circling their mother chanting for days, that was Reinaldo Arenas’s version of still having hope for Cuba and not being ready to give up on his home country. In the story when he finally stopped chanting, he came to realize that his mother (Cuba) was dead and that it was pointless to try and hope for something that was no longer there. In the eyes of the author Arenas, Cuba died with the new ruler Fidel Castro that took over. “Each time I go past the bedhead I scrutinize her face, which seems to get progressively longer and stranger, till by the following nightfall (which finds us still howling and gyrating) I can hardly recognize her”.

When Fidel Castro took over, Cuba slowly became unrecognizable to Arenas and things just weren’t the same anymore. After a while you couldn’t tell that what Cuba once was, just like in the story how the mother was completely different because she was left on the bed dead for so long. Whenever the brother tried to get his sisters to realize what was happening with their mother they refused to listen to him. They couldn’t see what he was seeing or smell what he was smelling. It was as if they were blind to the truth or reality of things. They forced their brother to continue the praising until they too were dead. For Arenas that represents his struggle in Cuba that he had with his writings and political outlook. Most did not agree with how he wrote his poetry or how he felt about Fidel Castro. When he was open about his writings and opinions he was locked up and forced to change his ways. Just as the brother in the story became quiet about how he felt, is the same thing as Arenas smuggling his writing outside of the country and trying to keep a low profile. In the story when the sisters killed themselves and the brother was faced with the decision to join them or to flee, that was Reinaldo Arenas was of saying those who follow Fidel Castro are just as dead as the old Cuba. Just as the brother fled in the story, is the same way Arenas fled Cuba to the United States instead of joining the fate that others like him were soon to meet.

In the end, this short story is a perfect representation of a short life that Reinaldo Arenas lived. The characters represent him, his struggles, and views nicely. It has a very strong meaning and a message that was in fact delivered.