THE SURRENDER TREE: POEMS OF CUBA'S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM by Margarita Engle ~ Culture 3

THE SURRENDER TREE: POEMS OF CUBA'S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM by Margarita Engle

Author: Margarita Engle

Title:  The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom

Publisher:  Henry Holt and Company

Publication Date: 2008

ISBN:  9780805086744

Plot Summary

Poems that explore Cuba's fight for independence follow Rosa, a nurse who turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her, and who does her best to help everyone, with no regard to race or nationality.

Critical Analysis

The forward of The Surrender Tree identifies the specific Cuban culture (and the subtitle should be a hint too). The book opens in 1850 and introduces the reader to the enslaved Cuban named Rosa, who is thought to be a witch by the Spanish slave hunters. Dialect is scattered throughout the novel in verse: cimarrones, pesos, campamentos de reconcentración, yagruma, ceiba, etc. – the Spanish words are set apart by being italicized.

If you didn’t know anything about Cuba before reading The Surrender Tree, you will after. Through the eyes of Rosa, Lieutenant Death, José, Silvia, and Lieutenant-General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, the Marquis of Tenerife of the Empire of Spain, readers learn about the flora and fauna of Cuba (darting bats, night-blooming blossoms), the architecture (palm-thatched houses used as hospitals), and the first use of concentration camps (“The angel-man brings me/tiny bits of smuggled food,/but there is never enough,/and my brothers are turning into shadows. I feed them/imaginary meals/of air.”).

The Surrender Tree’s story for Cuba’s freedom ends where my knowledge of Cuba picks up: at the Spanish-American War (as it is known in the United States). Despite the hopeful ending (“The war is over – should I dance,/am I free to sing out loud,/free to grow up,/fall in love?”), I was left with a bad taste in my mouth: the knowledge that the United States only intervened in Cuba’s affairs because the island was a strategic outpost.

Young adults can make further connections to Cuba by reading the Author’s Note, the Historical Note, and Chronology at the end of the book. If more novels in verse about a country’s fight for freedom were written as well as Engle’s, young adults would easily learn more about world history.

Reviews

• Booklist (2008): “The switching perspectives personalize the dramatic political history, including the establishment of the world’s first reconcentration camps to hold prisoners, as well as the role of slave owners who freed their slaves and joined the resistance against Spain. Many readers will be caught by the compelling narrative voices and want to pursue the historical accounts in Engle’s bibliography.”
• Kirkus (2008): “Tales of political dissent can prove, at times, to be challenging reads for youngsters, but this fictionalized version of the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain may act as an entry to the form. The poems offer rich character portraits through concise, heightened language, and their order within the cycle provides suspense.”

Awards

• 2009 John Newbery Medal honor book
• 2009 Pura Belpré Award winner, author
• 2008 Cybils Awards finalist, poetry

Connections

• Students can create a timeline based on their readings from The Surrender Tree.
• Learn more about author Margarita Engle at her website: http://www.margaritaengle.com/
• Teachers can find classroom activities for The Surrender Tree at http://www.margaritaengle.com/teachers.html
• Other books about Cuba by Margarita Engle include:
• The Lightening Dreamer: Cuba’s Greatest Abolitioinist
• The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano
• Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music
• Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba

Bibliography

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. October 1, 2017.

Engle, Margarita. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2008. ISBN 9780805086744