Mona begins as a story of a man, Ramon Fernandez, who left Cuba in his late twenties to live a prosperous life in the United States. Ramon, a security guard at a Wendy’s in New York City, works the lively night shift and often looks to pick up women. Usually his lovers are “nameless women” whom he never sees again, however, one night he comes across a “truly extraordinary female specimen (pg. 37).” Ramon falls madly in love with this woman, Elisa, and cannot stop thinking about her. He becomes suspicious of her after she mysteriously leaves his house early in the morning on a regular basis. Ramon follows her one morning and ends up in a museum, where he notices that a picture on the wall, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, is a portrait of Elisa. He believes that Elisa is a rich model whom loves him and can fulfill his dream of owning a Wendy’s. However, she ends up maliciously luring him to a small medieval town in upstate New York where she threatens to kill him with a dagger. As the two make love, Elisha transforms into Leonardo. Ramon finds himself with “a very old, bald man, toothless and foul-smelling (pg. 59).”
Arenas uses Elisa as a means of conveying his sexual obsessions. As Ramon is about to die at the swamp, he says, “It was not my family in Cuba that I remembered at that moment but the enormous salad bar at Wendy’s. To me it was like a vision of my life these last few years… before Elisa came into it (pg. 58).” This possibly relates to Reinaldo’s life pre and post-AIDS.
He also displays his fear of death through Elisa. Elisa, who is really the woman in Leonardo’s painting, was “in the museum, fulfilling its destiny as a work of art and at the mercy of whomever dared to destroy it (pg. 66).” After Ramon’s attempt at destroying it, he was arrested and placed in jail. While in jail, he wished he too could have a steel curtain that could drop from the ceiling to cover and protect him completely (pg. 66).
Similar to that of a painting, Elisa stays as young as the Leonardo intended yet exists until it is destroyed. “She possessed not only the imagination of a real pleasure-seeker and the skills of a woman of the world but also a kind of motherly charm mixed with youthful mischief and the airs of a grand lady (pg. 38).”
Arenas also confronts his issues with Cuba. He makes one ask the question: Which is more desirable: being unable to leave the one you love or not being able to ever return to it? Fernandez constantly struggled between his perfectly content life at Wendy’s and his fantasy with Elisa. The situation that Fernandez dealt with Elisa is very similar to that of Arenas and his homeland of Cuba. Reinaldo’s openly gay lifestyle clashed greatly with the communist government and he was often punished for his writings and publications. This is eventually what led Arenas to his exile to the US, and ultimately, his death (suicide) in jail.
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Mona begins with the story of a man, Ramon Fernandez, who left Cuba in his late twenties to live a prosperous life in the United States. Ramon, a security guard at a Wendy’s in New York City, works the lively nighttime shift and is quite skilled at picking up women during the late hours of the night. He often fools around with “nameless women” whom he never sees again, however, one night he comes across a “truly extraordinary female specimen (pg. 37).” Ramon falls madly in love with this woman, Elisa, and cannot stop thinking about her. He becomes suspicious of her after he notices her mysteriously leaving his house early in the morning on a regular basis. Ramon decides to follow her one morning and ends up in a museum, where he notices that a picture on the wall, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, is a portrait of Elisa. He doesn’t realize this painting is one of Leonardo’s works and believes that Elisa is a rich model whom loves him. He begins dreaming of what his future might hold, possibly having the opportunity to buy a Wendy’s of his own. However, she ends up maliciously luring him to a small medieval town in upstate New York where she threatens to kill him with a dagger. As the two make love, Elisa transforms into Leonardo. Ramon finds himself with “a very old, bald man, toothless and foul-smelling (pg. 59).”
ReplyDeleteArenas uses Elisa as a means of conveying his sexual obsessions. As Ramon is about to die at the swamp, he says, “It was not my family in Cuba that I remembered at that moment but the enormous salad bar at Wendy’s. To me it was like a vision of my life these last few years… before Elisa came into it (pg. 58).” This possibly relates to Reinaldo’s life pre and post-AIDS.
He also displays his fear of death through Elisa. Elisa, who is really the woman in Leonardo’s painting, was “in the museum, fulfilling its destiny as a work of art and at the mercy of whomever dared to destroy it (pg. 66).” After Ramon’s attempt at destroying it, he was arrested and placed in jail. While in jail, he wished he too could have a steel curtain that could drop from the ceiling to cover and protect him completely (pg. 66).
Similar to that of a painting, Elisa stays as young as Leonardo intended yet exists until it is destroyed. “She possessed not only the imagination of a real pleasure-seeker and the skills of a woman of the world but also a kind of motherly charm mixed with youthful mischief and the airs of a grand lady (pg. 38).”
Arenas also confronts his issues with Cuba. He makes one ask the question: Which is more desirable: being unable to leave the one you love or not being able to ever return to it? Fernandez constantly struggled between his perfectly content life at Wendy’s and his fantasy with Elisa. The situation that Fernandez dealt with Elisa is very similar to that of Arenas and his homeland of Cuba. Reinaldo’s openly gay lifestyle clashed greatly with the communist government and he was often punished for his writings and publications. This is eventually what led Arenas to his exile to the US, and ultimately, his death (suicide) in jail.