Cirilo Villaverde's Cecilia Valdés (The Quadroon)

Cirilo Villaverde’s Cecilia Valdés (The Quadroon)

Prof. Rolando J. Romero

1. Please draw a genealogy tree for the characters in Cecilia Valdés.

2. Why is Cecilia invited to Gamboa's house.

3. Please find a paragraph in the text that best describes Leonardo Gamboa.

4. Who are the slaves who work in Gamboa's house.

5. Please find a paragraph in the text that best describes the racial attitudes of the time.

6. Do you think the racial attitudes described in the text describe the opinions of the 19th century, of the characters', or of the authors?

7. Are there general characteristics in the physical description of the white characters as opposed to the black characters?

8. Please point to paragraphs that detail the abuse perpetrated by the masters upon the slaves.

9. Opponents of slavery argued not that slavery was wrong per se, but that it brought out the worst in the masters. Can you find a passage where the narrator editorializes on this issue? (Hint: chapter XV).

10. What is a "face down"?

11. Is punishment of the slaves gendered?

12. The family in the 19th century is read today as a metaphor for the nation. When you analyze the Gamboa household, what can you say about the state of the nation? Is this nation Cuba, or is Cuba itself a metaphor for what is going on in the United States?

13. What is the structural purpose of the visit to the plantation? What points does the setting allow Villaverde's narrator to make?

14. Please analyze the role of incest in the novel. How does the theme of incest inform the definition of the family.