Study Guide

Dreaming in Cuban Chapter 4: Celia's Letters: 1935-1940

By Cristina García

Chapter 4: Celia's Letters: 1935-1940

This is an epistolary chapter, entirely made up of some of Celia's unsent letters to her lover Gustavo.
They are written on the eleventh of every month and run from 1935 to 1940.
In them, Celia reports on her marriage to Jorge, her pregnancies, Jorge's abandonment of her to his cruel mother and sisters, and her descent into depression.
Celia chronicles her stay at the asylum, where her BFF Felicia (a husband-killer) is burned in her bed. She had planned to escape with Felicia.
She recalls her Tía Alicia who taught piano to children and took care of her.
Towards the end of the chapter, her letters become more like domestic reporting and we learn in the last letter (about a life-threatening accident Jorge had) that Celia has come to love her husband.
She also comments on the poverty of the Cuban countryside and the vulnerability of its children.