Engle fears her mother, who has never gotten United States citizenship, could be deported. She dreams of riding horses, believing the feeling must be like flying, but her parents tell her that is not realistic since they live near Los Angeles.ĭuring the revolt in Cuba, Engle’s family comes under surveillance by the FBI because they get packages and phone calls from Cuba. Engle finds solace in books and the poetry she writes. She is even more out of place when she is skipped forward several grades.
She does not feel as if she fully belongs in her American school. Engle’s mother begins turning off the electricity each night because she fears another fire.Įngle, meanwhile, misses the person she is in Cuba. The house to which the family moves on the Oregon border burns to the ground one night as a result of faulty electrical wiring. Engle describes the island as a fairy tale land of mythical creatures.Įngle’s next poems describe her life in the United States. Engle moves forward in time to 1951 and her first visit to her relatives in Cuba. In the United States, where her family lives now, Engle feels as if a part of herself is missing.Įngle begins her story in 1947 when her Cuban mother and American father met and fell in love in Trinidad de Cuba. During her visits to Cuba, Engle feels free to be herself among the dancing plants.
In Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle, Engle, a Cuban-American describes through her poetry her feeling of being torn between the United States and Cuba. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, August 4, 2015. Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir. The following version of the memoir was used to create this study guide: Engle, Margarita.
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