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The Surrender Tree Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom
by Margarita Engle
Henry Holt and Company, 2008
 Publisher recommended 7th grade and up.

Summary

This book of poems is set in Cuba and weaves through the life of Rosa, a former slave who hides in the wilderness--first alone and later with her husband and others--and uses her talents to heal those injured in Cuba's multiple wars over her lifetime.

Language

  • none

Sexual Situations

  • none

Violence

  • The slave hunter severs the ears of escaped slaves killed during capture to prove their deaths.
  • The slave hunter chops up the bodies of slaves and hangs the parts in cages from the trees to warn others against escaping.
  • A ship from the United States blows up in the harbor.
  • Fires burn throughout Cuba during the wars.
  • Cubans are forcefully removed from their homes to re-concentration camps.

Drugs/Alcohol

  • The main character uses native plants to cure a variety of ailments.

Race Issues

  • The author reminisces about her blond Spanish great-uncle marrying a Congolese woman in 1900s Cuba.
  • Slavery in Cuba is explained as involving people taken from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.
  • Escaped slaves are described as having "filed teeth and tribal scars."
  • "Dark, northern" American soldiers are separated from the "light ones" until death when they are buried together in mass graves.

Religion

  • God is thanked for the healing plants and hearing prayers.
  • Lakota nuns come from America to assist the war wounded.

Politics

  • The author speaks of Cuba's yearning for independence from both Spain and the United States.

 

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