After reading Anna in the Tropics I found myself experiencing a feeling of satisfaction. This play had an air of simplicity that I find refreshing. By writing in a manner that allows readers to understand the surface of the text, Cruz in turn has his audience wanting to search for a deeper connection to his play.
One passage that really intrigued me was in Act Two, Scene 1 where Juan Julian and Cheche are debating the reasons to switch to a machine that rolls cigars, instead of continuing the more traditional method, currently in place, of hand rolling. Juan Julian, takes Cheche’s idea of modernity and the need to keep up with a fast paced world and throws it in his face, making the point that the whole point of a cigar is to step out of that modern world. He notes that a cigarette is the modern answer to the cigar, and that is what is actually preventing the potential progress of their sales.
I’m not exactly sure why this scene grabbed my attention so intensely; perhaps it’s simply my interest in things of the past becoming obsolete, which makes sense considering the way technology is progressing. That contented feeling I experienced after reading this play, I believe took place because I was able to carry it around with me, and feel the pages of the story. Soon that feeling might be passé and just a fond memory.
The machine scene did seem to be the most powerful in the play. It is interesting because in a way, the issue itself is very contemporary one as well, as apposed to the timeless love triangles that were one of the other major conflicts/themes, which provides an interesting meta-contrast within the underlying surface of the story.
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