A Review of Democracy, If He Hollers Let Him Go, and Dreaming in Cuban

Works of historical fiction, as per the wont of their authors, generally reflect similar thematic or stylistic trends. While the tone or issue may vary widely, the general purpose is to elucidate on a particular historical era with a personalist perspective which reveals the emotional reactions and bonds of individuals to significant events, or simply contemporary realities. In the case of this paper's chosen selections-Democracy, If He Hollers Let Him Go, and Dreaming in Cuban-it may be a point of contention whether they constitute "historical fiction" as they were published in not too distant a period from the depicted era and contain broad introspective insights more relevant to a memoir. Nonetheless, their value, particularly as it pertains to this course, lies primarily in the ability to convey-though with varying degrees of successful vividness-concepts and realities of the past to the modern reader.

So long as one remains conscious, then, of the contextual emotional content of these books, an important theme can readily be discerned throughout each, even as it functions with a great deal of elasticity in form and presentation. Democracy, If He Hollers Let Him Go, and Dreaming in Cuban all contain characters that are ingrained with, or eventually develop, a great deal of discontent for existing realities. The result is a pervasive sense of alienation to which all arrive from different points and react to in a multitude of ways. This alienation does not take place merely from the abstracts of society or a race but from more concrete systems of governance and familial bonds which are inextricable from these.