Learning to Die in Miami

​Learning to Die in Miami

​By Briana Price (22-23)

​

• This text is called a Memoir, which is a factual account of an author’s life written from his or her perspective.

• The time of this text was during the 1950s when the Cuban revolution was taking place and Fidel Castro had taken power. 

• Due to corruption and oppression, almost 125,000 Cuban refugees have fled Cuba’s communist rule.

​

​Before you read....

​

​

​

​

​Remember: An Immigrant is an individual who leaves one’s country to settle in another, whereas refugees are defined as persons, who move out of one’s country due to restriction or danger to their lives.

• ​As you read, keep in mind the story is told from the perspective of a Cuban refugee.

• Click here to open the document​

​Before you read....

​

Open Ended

Directions: Answer both questions with at least (2-3) sentences.

1. What part of the video stood out to you the most?

2. What are some benefits of leaving one's home? What are some drawbacks (negatives)?

​

• ​Between December 1960 and October 1962, more than 14,000 Cuban children arrived alone in the United States in what was known as Operation Peter Pan. The children were sent by their parents, political dissenters, in hopes that they could establish a better life. Eire was sent with his older brother.

​

• Yale historian Carlos Eire came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1962 at the young age of 11 after escaping the Castro-led Communist takeover of his homeland.

​

​ Learning to Die in Miami

By: Carlos Eire

​Background:

Multiple Choice

Based on paragraphs 1-2: Why is the narrator happy to be in America?

• He was happy to finally escape Cuba and meet celebrities.

• He grew up admiring American culture and was happy to have escaped Cuba.

• He was happy to escape Cuba and get to eat all the things he didn't have back at home.

Open Ended

Based on paragraphs 1-2: What can you infer (educated guess) about why he may have left Cuba?

Open Ended

As the narrator drives through Miami, what catches the narrator's eye the most? Why is that? (Hint: Paragraphs 1 and 8).

​You will begin a Reading Quiz

Please take this time to:

• Open the document​

• Re-read the text.​

​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Multiple Choice

What is most closely the meaning of the word consuming as it appears in the passage below (paragraph 2)?

"All of my life I’d longed to be here in the United States of America because the place had thrust itself upon me through movies, television shows, comic books, and a thousand and one products, from baseball cards to model trains and soft drinks. I’d been seeing images of this place, playing with its toys, and consuming its goods and entertainment since the day I was born."

• verb | eating or drinking food

• verb | purchasing goods or services

• adjective | completely absorbs one’s attention

• verb | entirely destroy, especially by fire

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements best explains the author’s state of mind when he first arrives in Miami?

• enchanted and awestruck

• nervous and out-of-sorts

• grateful and relieved

• sad and forlorn

Multiple Choice

The author’s purpose for including the following passage is most likely to____ .

"But that night, as I drift to sleep in my bunk at the Angoneses’ house in the Florida City camp, all I care about is the fact that I’ve escaped from Cuba, which is the same as escaping from hell, and that I’m in a new land with marvelous vending machines."

• provide background about the author’s father who was a laborer at a Cuban vending machine factory

• foreshadow the starvation that he would come to know in America

• show that he still had the interests and curiosities of a typical boy despite the challenges of life in Cuba

• point out the rampant consumerism that met the author when he arrived in the United States

Multiple Choice

Which of these inferences about the author is best supported by the text?

• Before he escaped from Cuba, he dreamed of having forbidden American products.

• The author detested how Fidel Castro’s policies impacted the working class.

• His parents sent him to America to experience capitalism in all its glory.

• He had consumed American products and fallen in love with American culture long before Castro banned access in Cuba.

Multiple Choice

Which of these inferences is most strongly supported by the following passage (paragraphs 6–7)?

"This was the real world, and I had finally crossed over into it.

I was alive, at last. Really alive. As I saw it then, Cuba had become some other dimension, far from earth: A parallel universe not unlike that of Bizarro World in the Superman comic books, where everything was the opposite of what one might expect on earth. And I couldn’t wait to escape from it, no matter what. Losing everything, including my family, seemed like a small price to pay. Or so I thought."

• He would soon have his first exposure to Superman and famous American shows.

• His desire to escape from Cuba surpassed his affection for his family.

• The author’s initial feelings of elation upon arriving in America wouldn’t last forever.

• The author nearly drowned on his trip from Cuba and is grateful to be alive.

Multiple Choice

Which of these passages most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question?

• “I was alive, at last. Really alive.”

• “This was the real world, and I had finally crossed over into it.”

• “[It was] a parallel universe not unlike that of Bizarro World in the Superman comic books, where everything was the opposite of what one might expect on earth.”

• “Losing everything, including my family, seemed like a small price to pay. Or so I thought.”

Multiple Choice

Which of these statements is best supported by the following passage (paragraph 8)?

"Being in shock didn’t help me gain a sense of perspective. What caught my eye most intensely were the soda-pop vending machines at the gasoline stations, all lit up in colors much more eye-catching than I had seen on any of their Cuban counterparts. Like everything else we’d missed for the past two years, these machines were way ahead into the future. These were space-age models. I wanted to jump out of the van, drop nickels in their sweet, sweet coin slots, fill my arms with their bottles, and sample those drinks I’d never, ever seen or tasted before, such as Bubble Up, and all those familiar ones that had once been available in Cuba, before Che Guevara made them disappear, such as Coke and Pepsi. Nothing seemed more desirable, more worthy of my attention. But I had no money at all, and the van was on a nonstop mission."

• American products changed immensely over the past two years in which they were banned in Cuba.

• The sight of the vending machines made the author long for his Cuban way of life.

• The author was astounded by all things American.

• The van driver didn’t want the kids to become acclimated to the American way of life.

Multiple Choice

Which of these passages most strongly supports the correct answer to the previous question?

• “These were space-age models.”

• “Like everything else we’d missed for the past two years, these machines were way ahead into the future.”

• “ … [All] those familiar ones that had once been available in Cuba, before Che Guevara made them disappear, such as Coke and Pepsi.”

• “I wanted to jump out of the van, drop nickels in their sweet, sweet coin slots, fill my arms with their bottles, and sample those drinks I’d never ever seen or tasted before …”

Match

Match the following

• kitschy

• bilious

• dimension

• counterpart

• deteriorate

tacky or excessively garish

malicious or ill-tempered

an alternate realm

a person or thing corresponding to or closely resembling another

to fall apart over time

• tacky or excessively garish

• malicious or ill-tempered

• an alternate realm

• a person or thing corresponding to or closely resembling another

• to fall apart over time

Reorder

Place the author’s developments in linear order:

• The author arrives at the Miami airport.

• The author notices the extraordinary number of gas stations.

• The author reflects that he has finally crossed into the real world, and that he is alive at last.

• The author, as an adult, points out that he must have been in shock when he first arrived in America.

• The author points out that he doesn’t have any money.

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5