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goals of reappropriating language in order to deconstruct the institutionalized oppression toward homosexuals in Cuba. Feijoó declares, “No homosexual represents the Revolution, which is a matter of fists and not feathers; of courage, not trembling; of certainty, not intrigue; of creative valor and not of sweet surprises” (qtd. in Leiner 25). This assertion has created a series of stereotypes that encapsulate the homosexual and that will be accepted by Cuban society in general, both on and off the island. A response to Feijoó’s statement and the question posed earlier are important because they will explain Arenas’ literary goals through the adoption of a counter-discourse.
Reinaldo Arenas, Caliban, and Postcolonial Discourse will focus on establishing the ideological commonalities between Reinaldo Arenas and Caliban. Chapter 1, “Caliban: Shakespeare’s Transformative Other,” analyzes arguments by various Shakespearian scholars connected to the characterization of Caliban as he appeared in Shakespeare’s last play. Issues surrounding the concept of the other and its inherent connection to Caliban will be discussed to undertake an analysis of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and the relationship between its three main characters. This discussion will be followed by the interpretation of these characters as they relate to the Latin American peoples in particular.
Chapter 2, “Caliban, The New World Native,” looks at the ways Latin American writers such as José Martí, José Enrique Rodó, Rubén Darío, Aimé Césaire, and Roberto Fernández Retamar explain the relationship between Prospero, Ariel, and Caliban to their particular regions, and at the same time their reference to the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Chapter 3, “Reinaldo Arenas’ Counter-Discourse,” will focus on an interpretation of postcolonial discourse as a response to Fidel Castro’s established official story, with an