Anna In The Tropics

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

Creative Writing: “Anna in the 21st Century Tropics”

In this activity, students will adapt one scene from Cruz’s play to include a 21st century setting, then present their work.

While Cruz’s play touches on timeless themes of The Power of Literature and Language, The Mutability of Gender Roles, Lost Traditions, and Love and Heartache, the setting of the play is clearly bound to the early 20th century. With a small group, select one scene from the play to rewrite and modernize to the 21st century.

• In your rewrite, be sure to consider how technology would affect the characters, setting, and plot while maintaining the integrity of Cruz’s original characters.
• Determine a new setting that demonstrates a juxtaposition between individual worker skill and automation, or in which concerns over quality versus quantity are inherent and pronounced.
• After drafting and rehearsing your script, perform your scene for the class. You might opt for a readers’ theater presentation if time and resources are limited.

After presentations conclude, compare the adapted scripts. Which theme or themes seemed to be most prevalent? Speculate on possible reasons for this in a journal entry or small discussion groups.

Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful to remind students to maintain the integrity of each character in their modernization of the story. In particular, the discussion of technology in the workforce is a particularly poignant point that applies to contemporary discussions of labor force conditions.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students seeking additional opportunities in theater performance or playwriting might write a monologue for one of the characters in the scene adaptation that provides additional insight into their motivations. Include this monologue in your group’s performance.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. Consider the choice of the lector’s book in Cruz’s play.

• How does the lector’s book of choice serve as a good example of The Power of Literature and Language across countries and languages?
• Identify 2-3 examples from the play to substantiate your answer. You might find it helpful to research the novel Anna Karenina to supplement your discussion of each example.
• In your conclusion, determine if, according to Cruz, literature is a double-edged sword and briefly explain why or why not.

2. Ofelia, Marela, and Conchita are powerful women within the family business.

• Which of the three women in the play subverts traditional gender roles the most strongly? (topic sentence)
• Analyze and discuss your chosen character’s traits, actions, and motivations in support of your topic sentence. Choose examples from a variety of places in the play. What does this character’s arc show regarding gender roles?
• In your conclusion, briefly summarize how this character’s role in the play develops the theme The Mutability of Gender Roles.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Predict the future of Conchita and Palomo’s marriage based on their actions and words over the course of the play. How does their marriage mirror Anna Karenina’s? Which character in the play matches which character in the novel? Point out specific details in both stories to argue effectively the validity of your prediction.

2. Marela suffers a great deal by the end of the play and is deeply affected by Cheche’s actions. To what extent might Marela be considered a resilient character? What evidence exists in the subtext and in indirect character details to suggest how much and how well she might grow, change, and recover? Formulate a focused thesis and discussion about this character’s role in the play and values, themes, or ideals she might represent on a symbolic level.

3. Is Cheché the villain of the story? Or is he a product of a fast-paced consumerist society? How does his background inform his decisions? How does it cause him to clash with the rest of the family? Analyze and discuss the extent to which Cheché fulfills the role of a traditional antagonist in the play. Use plot details including character reactions and choices to substantiate your argument.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. According to the introduction to the play, which of the following changes signified an “end to the tradition”?

A) The migration of Cubans to Florida to establish restaurants

B) The incorporation of women into the local cigar factories

C) The transition from lectors to low-paid American workers in cigar production

D) The merging of Cuban and Mexican Spanish in Floridian communities

2. Which of these geographic regions of literature is represented by the lector’s choice of book?

A) Russian

B) French

C) English

D) Cuban

3. Which of the following phrases best describes the topic of Conchita and Ofelia’s warning to Marela?

A) Interfering with a person’s destiny

B) Writing love poetry

C) Falling in love too quickly

D) Eating too much sugar and cinnamon

4. Based on the conversation between Juan Julian and the women, what can be said about the staff of the factory?

A) They all identify as Cuban.

B) They are all devout Catholics.

C) They usually prefer the same type of books.

D) They are from a wide variety of places.

5. According to the play, which of the following socio-economic issues best relates to the popularity of lectors in Cuba?

A) The inability to purchase literature for themselves

B) The average worker’s lack of formal education

C) The collective desire to receive university scholarships

D) The excitement associated with monotonous work

6. When Conchita remarks in Act I, Scene 3 on her sister’s foolishness in dreaming, Marela responds, “No, everything in life dreams. A bicycle dreams of becoming a boy, an umbrella dreams of becoming the rain, a pearl dreams of becoming a woman, and a chair dreams of becoming a gazelle and running back to the forest.” Which of the following literary terms is used in this quote?

A) Metaphor

B) Simile

C) Personification

D) Allusion

7. Which of the following sentences best describes how the characters apply Juan Julian’s readings to their own lives?

A) They are reminded of their childhood.

B) They are able to start difficult conversations.

C) They are inspired to pursue higher education.

D) They are motivated to become lectors themselves.

8. Which of the following items symbolizes Marela’s loss of innocence after her sexual assault?

A) Her coat

B) Her hair

C) Her pen

D) Her cigarette case

9. Which of the following reasons is most probably why Cruz chose Tampa as the setting of the play?

A) He was born there.

B) He wanted to stay true to the history of Ybor City.

C) It has the largest number of Mexicans in the US.

D) He currently lives there.

10. Palomo states in Act 2, Scene 2 that “[a]lcohol is prohibited in this country because alcohol is like literature. Literature brings out the best and the worst part of ourselves.” Which of the following literary devices are used in this quote?

A) Simile

B) Personification

C) Metaphor

D) Palindrome

11. Which of the following phrases best summarizes the end of the play?

A) The lector is unable to finish his chosen book.

B) Cheché discovers a newfound love of literature.

C) Conchita leaves her husband and returns to Cuba.

D) Santiago closes the factory and begins to produce cigarettes.

12. Based on the text of the play, which of these ideas do cigarettes represent?

A) A return to traditions

B) A desire for wealth

C) A fast-paced lifestyle

D) A uniquely Cuban commodity

13. What does the final scene of the play best represent?

A) The desire to surpass tradition with American progress

B) The continuation of Cuban traditions in spite of obstacles

C) The preference for mass production over handmade products

D) The development of education for low-income Mexican workers

14. Which of the following sequences is correct?

A) The arrival of Palomo, the affair of Conchita, the death of the lector

B) The affair of Conchita, the arrival of Juan Julian, the death of the lector

C) The arrival of Juan Julian, the death of the lector, the affair of Conchita,

D) The arrival of Juan Julian, the affair of Conchita, the death of the lector

15. Based on the end of the play, which of the following statements is true about the characters’ beliefs?

A) That the reading of literature must be continued

B) That traditions are unimportant

C) That hierarchies must be maintained

D) That America is better than Cuba

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. What is the significance of the title? How does it relate to the context of the play?

2. How does the use of the cigar versus the cigarette within the play speak to the larger theme of Lost Traditions?