Exploring Spanish Literature

 Julia de Burgos is a very well known Puerto Rican poet who advocated for the independence movement of Puerto Rico. Her writings and poetry supported her civil rights activism including feminism.  She grew up as one of 13 children in Carolina, Puerto Rico. She received her college degree at University of Havana, the capital of Cuba. Some of her most famous pieces are "Poema en Veinte Surcos" (Poem in Twenty Furrows) and "Canción de la Verdad Sencilla" (Song of the Simple Truth). In her poetry, she often refers to Puerto Rico's past encounters with imperialism, so I was curious and did some research on Puerto Rican history. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus of Spain in 1493, the indigenous group living there were called the Taínos. They lived in villages across Puerto Rico for many years, and their encounter with the Spanish ultimately led to their extinction. The Spanish were thrilled with the large amounts of gold found in the rivers, so the name chang...

 I recently read "Casa Dividida"by Chris Mercer in school, where I learned a lot more about the Cuban Revolution and the conflicts regarding communism. There were two perspectives in the book, one young girl who grows up poor and working tirelessly on a farm and living in a small shack. The other was a boy who came from a wealthy family and lived in a mansion in Havana. Through the Cuban Revolution, the goal was the balance out the severely high wealth gap, and have a more communist society. The changes made in Cuba after the war, like the nationalization of private businesses or better healthcare for the poor  are shown through two different viewpoints, making the book more universal and less biased. This made me wonder about the negative and positive results of the war, and the values that the government prioritized. Liberty and freedom of speech/expression was not a priority. In fact, government officials prosecuted or jailed those who expressed a controversial view on the...