Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Surrender Tree by M. Engle

Engle, M. (2008). The surrender tree: Poems of Cuba's struggle for freedom (p. 169). New York: Henry Holt and.


Characters: Rosa, Jose, Lieutenant Death, Marti, Silvia
 
Themes: Hope, Slavery, War, Freedom

Summary:
This is a book of poem from the Cuban Independence Wars. The poems documents Rosa, a freed slave healer. The book is divided into five sections which is narrated by other people. The poems describe Rosa’s life as a healer, then she goes into hiding because Spain does not accept free slaves. She meets and marries Jose, who is a slave. They both work as nurses during the war, but they have to go into hiding. At times, making make shifts hospitals in the jungle, so they are not caught.

Silvia is a girl which escapes the camp and joins Rosa.  She learns how to heal from Jose and Rosa. Lt. Death is searching for Rosa, so she can stop healing the rebels. At the end, the Americans have captured Cuba from Spain.

The main lesson of the book is perseverance. Rosa and Jose fought to survive and healed many people. The book is also a good tool to show the history of Cuban Independence.

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