The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette's Journey to Cuba

1.      BIBLIOGRAPHY

Engle, Margarita. 2010. The Firefly Letters: A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Co., LLC. ISBN 0805090826 

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

The Firefly Letters, a poignant verse novel told in first person narrative, shares the voices of four individuals to tell the stories of young lives affected by slavery in Cuba in the 1850’s. The story opens with the first memories presented by eight-year-old Cecilia, originally stolen from the Congo, who has just been traded by her father for a stolen cow. Seven years pass in a few pages and readers then hear the voice of Elena, a twelve-year-old wealthy plantation owner’s daughter, enslaved by society’s ideal of a young woman and local superstition. Her family is the owner of Cecilia, who is now fifteen, married and pregnant. Both of their lives are shaken up by the arrival of Frederika and her unusual ideas that all people are equal, who herself resisted love and marriage to preserve her own freedom. While Cecilia becomes her translator and companion, Cecilia experiences previously unknown freedom of the body and mind. Elena, whose sense of propriety is initially disturbed by Frederika, soon realizes that Cecilia has more freedom than she. Through Frederika’s teaching and example, with lessons such as the purchasing of  fireflies from locals to save them from captivity, the lives and perspectives of the girls as well as that of Beni, Cecilia’s husband, are expanded and changed, with the two girls becoming friends. Frederika instills a freedom of thought, culminating in Elena, being brave and courageous, acting on her own secret plan to sell all of the items in her hope chest to raise the money to buy the freedom for Cecilia’s unborn child. 

3.      CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Firefly Letters is realistic in style, full of history and political awareness, with themes of unrequited love, slavery, and superstition, starting with an initial feeling of hopelessness. Based on the true historical letters, diaries, and sketchbooks of Swedish suffragette Frederika Bremer, award-winning Cuban-American poet Margarita Engle portrays sorrow, brokenness, envy, and other emotions as effects of the different forms of slavery, due to physical and mental bondage. Engle’s prose is flowing and smooth, authentically and vividly describing the lives of the various people groups and the beautiful verdant Cuba, “a land where freedom does not grow.” Engle’s style is succinct, often completing one character through the later perspective of another character. For example, we learn that Cecilia was indeed traded for a cow through the revelations of Elena, who originally sees her as “just as a slave.” Her style allows for quick reading and the reader is rapidly drawn into the story and feelings for each of the characters. She portrays them with a full range of emotion and foibles, which makes them real and endearing. Her story provides a role model for young adult readers, ages 12 and up, to stand up for what they believe is right and for the fundamental right that all people are created equal. Engle uses the rescuing of the fireflies as a symbol for the liberation of human beings. Yet there is a bittersweet ending to Engle’s novel, as we do not know the fate of Cecilia and her baby, Elena and her family, and Frederika’s reception back in Europe as she shares the stories she had gathered. A Historical Note included by the author explains some of the story of Frederika Bremer, Sweden’s first woman novelist and an early advocate for women’s rights. The author explains that Cecilia was described in Frederika’s diaries, letters, and sketches. There is also an Author’s Note in the back of the book further explaining how she developed her characters. 

 There are no illustrations besides the cover art, yet Engle’s rich description of Cuba and its people are more than enough to establish a firm mental image of this beautiful place filled with lives tragically and painfully impacted by the sin of slavery.

4. AWARDS  AND REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

ALSC Notable Children's Book

Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year

Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens

IRA Notable Books for a Global Society

Jane Addams Award

Pura Belpré Author Honor

Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List

Starred Review from Kirkus Reviews: “Like the firefly light, Engle’s poetry is a gossamer thread of subtle beauty weaving together three memorable characters who together find hope and courage. Another fine volume by a master of the novel in verse.”

Review from Booklist: “Through this moving combination of historical viewpoints, Engle creates dramatic tension among the characters, especially in the story of Elena, who makes a surprising sacrifice.”

Review from Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books: “The author has a gift for imbuing seemingly effortless text with powerful emotions. . . .This uncommon story will resonate when placed in the hands of the right reader.”

 Review from Publisher’s Weekly: ““This slim, elegant volume opens the door to discussions of slavery, women’s rights, and the economic disparity between rich and poor.”

Review from School Library Journal: “This engaging title documents 50-year-old Swedish suffragette and novelist Fredrika Bremer’s three-month travels around Cuba in 1851. …The easily digestible, poetic narrative makes this a perfect choice for reluctant readers, students of the women’s movement, those interested in Cuba, and teens with biography assignments.” 

5. CONNECTIONS

*Have students investigate plantation life and Cuban customs using the Internet. Have them put together a visual project such as a glog, blog or PowerPoint, incorporating what they learned from their research and reading the book.

*Investigate fireflies, their lives, and the traditional ways people have interacted with them.

* Have students do a comparative study, investigating slavery in the United States and Cuba, looking at similarities and differences. What were some of the cultural differences between the two nations? How did the daily life of a slave in each country compare? What were the likelihoods of slaves in either country becoming free in the 1850’s? Compare how ultimately the situation was changed.                                     

*Have students write reader response journals in prose answering the question of what happened to all of the main characters. Share the alternative endings together as a class.

*Other books by Margarita Engle:

Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck. ISBN 0805092400

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano. ISBN 0312659288

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. ISBN 0805086749

Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. ISBN 0805089365