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| Reality
Is Mad as a Hatter
Marxism
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Interpretation "Reality Is Mad as a Hatter" (A
Comical Look at the Reality of Communism) “Reality
Is Mad as a Hatter” tells the amusing story of Trígimo Suárez -- a man whose passion for the Communist Revolution in Cuba was
undermined by his need to consume glass.
On the surface, it may seem that this abrazo
is not meant to convey any real message -- after all, the anecdote itself
certainly holds its own -- but
there are political and social undertones which, when understood, give
this abrazo a satirical resonance. The story of the glass-eater could, in fact, have been told without
its eccentric protagonist. Trígimo
could have been a bohemian sculptor or an avant-garde poet, because his
significance lies simply in his nonconformity.
The importance of Trígimo’s rejection by Fidel and his cohorts is
meant to contrast the idealistic principals of Marxism with the reality
(and often folly) of communism in Cuba.
Trígimo’s peculiar proclivity merely emphasizes his role as a
nonconformist and shows that his eccentricities are odd, but not at all
threatening. But Fidel does seem threatened (or at least displeased) with
Trígimo’s unusual behavior, and this is the true irony of the piece.
Galeano states that “Trigimo Suarez was an exemplary militiaman,
a frontline sugar cane cutter and a vanguard worker -- the kind who works
twenty hours and charges for eight. He
was first to step forward to cut cane or shoulder a gun.”
In a Marxist Utopia where individuals work for the good of the
state to ensure the prosperity of all, a man like Trígimo would be a model
citizen. But in Cuba,
Trígimo
had his Communist Youth card taken from him despite his loyalty to the
Revolution. This shows that
Fidel was more concerned with the elimination of Trígimo’s unorthodox
conduct than with the realization of the communist ideal.
And here, it is important to again assume for a moment that our
glass-eater is, in reality, a symbol for any nonconformist (like the
sculptor or the poet) -- because when this is done, the social
implications of the abrazo
are revealed. We can now see
that the communism in Cuba is about the oppression of the individual at
the hands of the state, a drastic departure from the Marxist Utopia.
In theory, communism aims to suppress the greed of the bourgeois
class by eliminating class distinction.
The means of production are controlled by the state so that no
group or class can singularly reap their benefits -- in short, everyone
gets an equal share. But with “Reality Is Mad as a Hatter,” Galeano shows us
that, in Cuba at least, this forced economic conformity has been extended
to all aspects of society -- even an individual’s right to pursue his or
her own interests (or non-threatening compulsions as we see with Trígimo
Suarez). Communism in Cuba is
not about the economic interest of the working class, but about the
government’s ability to control the individual -- and in this way, Cuba
has taken on a form of governmental dictatorship which Galeano, as an
artist, must surely dread. | Site
of Embraces | Reality
is Mad as a Hatter |
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