Cloud Cover Caribbean by Ana Lydia Vega
"Cloud Cover Caribbean" by Ana Lydia Vega is a narrative that unfolds during the hurricane season in the Caribbean, focusing on the experiences of three men from different West Indies nations—Antenor from Haiti, Diogenes from the Dominican Republic, and Carmelo from Cuba—as they attempt to reach the United States. The story begins with Antenor sailing in a makeshift boat and encountering Diogenes, who has survived a shipwreck. Despite the language barrier—Antenor speaks French while Diogenes communicates in Spanish—they engage in a conversation about their pasts and aspirations.
The plot thickens when they rescue Carmelo, who introduces tension between the three men, particularly as they compete for limited resources on the small vessel. Their interactions are marked by cultural rivalry and nostalgia, highlighting the complex histories of their respective homelands. As the narrative progresses, their boat capsizes, leading to their rescue by an American ship, which introduces a new layer of cultural dynamics as they face the expectations of their new environment. This story poignantly explores themes of migration, survival, and the intricate relationships shaped by language and national identity.
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Cloud Cover Caribbean by Ana Lydia Vega
First published: "Encancaranublado," 1982 (English translation, 1989)
Type of plot: Regional, satire
Time of work: The 1970's
Locale: The open sea off the coast of Florida
Principal Characters:
Antenor , a HaitianDiogenes , a DominicanCarmelo , a Cuban
The Story
"Cloud Cover Caribbean" is told by a third-person omniscient narrator. It is September, hurricane season in the Caribbean, and Antenor has been on the open sea in a makeshift vessel for two days. He has not seen anything or anyone since he left his home island of Haiti. He unexpectedly hears Spanish being spoken and helps a shipwrecked man from the Dominican Republic aboard his little boat, which nearly tips over with the additional weight. Antenor cautiously shares the water from his canteen with the newcomer. Though Antenor speaks French, and Diogenes, the Dominican, speaks Spanish, they share an amiable conversation anyway. Neither can understand the other completely, but they pass the time by telling each other what they are leaving behind and what they are seeking.
Suddenly they hear shouts and see a curly-haired Cuban bobbing among the waves. Though Diogenes and Antenor hesitate to take yet another passenger on the little skiff (there is only one canteen of water to share), they are unable to resist his cries for help, and they pull the Cuban aboard. Once again the boat nearly capsizes. Carmelo, the Cuban, and Diogenes, the Dominican, both speak Spanish and soon marginalize the French-speaking Haitian, who sits on the only box in the boat, resenting "the monopoly the language of Cervantes was enjoying in a vessel . . . sailing under the Haitian flag."
Carmelo smells tobacco and rum and quickly deduces that Antenor must be guarding his provisions in the box he sits on so determinedly. He and Diogenes push Antenor roughly, almost knocking him into the sea, and wrest the box from him. They attack Antenor's carefully collected and safeguarded provisions with vigor, devouring his cassava bread and corn, chewing his tobacco, and drinking up his rum. Nevertheless, the alliance between Carmelo and Diogenes weakens as each makes offensive remarks about the other's homeland. Diogenes nostalgically recalls the prostitution during the Fulgencio Batista era, before the Cuban Revolution of 1959; Carmelo suggests that Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, is in such disarray that the effects of a recent hurricane will go unnoticed. In a moment of frustration, Diogenes reaches for the water canteen, which rolls to Antenor's feet. Rather than let Diogenes have it, Antenor throws the canteen into the sea. Carmelo intervenes only to warn them not to capsize the boat, but it is too late. The boat capsizes, and the three would-be immigrants together shout for help. Some time later, they are rescued by an American boat, and the blond, blue-eyed, English-speaking captain sends them below to be cared for by the Puerto Rican crew members, whose Spanish is a welcome sound to the Cuban and Dominican and even to the Haitian. Just as the three refugees begin to smile, happy to be alive and to have found the "promised land" of America, one of the Puerto Ricans growls to the three newcomers that they will have to work hard for anything they get, because "a gringo don't give nothing away. Not to his own mother."