Commonly, drama plays are evaluated according to their applicability to the reality. In other words, if you watch the play and it touches something deep inside you, as if it happens in your real life, this work of art will be significant. Experienced viewers don’t miss anything like that and it makes authors work harder and harder attempting to satisfy their audience. Milcha Sanchez-Scott put much effort into the play “The Cuban Swimmer,” trying to make it realistic and exciting, to provoke compassion, sympathy and interest in the audience through it. The author uses her personal background in this story. The significance of this play lies in its close relation to the real life.
What is peculiar about “The Cuban Swimmer” is the fact that it takes place in a single scene. The story unfolds around the Suarez family, cheering on their daughter – the swimmer Margarita. Her parents came to America from Cuba in the chase for their American dream. They are a close and friendly family. They love each other and put their family values on the first place.
In the story, Margarita faces different challenges, such as overcoming hallucinations and her father’s pride. She overcomes all these hardships because she does not swim so much for herself as for her family, realizing that her victory in a contest will be a great reward for them. This thought encourages her and gives her strength to continue. Her primary goal is to take advantage of her physical ability and become a winner. Another side of her strong determination to win lies in her desire to prove that she and her family are as good as others. Therefore, the problem of racial discrimination attracts attention in the play.
The main question raised in the play is as old as the hills. Racial discrimination has long been a primary issue in numerous works of art and many authors attempted to portray social prejudices and judgments. In “The Cuban Swimmer,” the author also brings this issue up and demonstrates how Margarita strives to gain respect for herself and her family. She wants equal attitude from the society. She does this through developing the talent she already has and winning the battle, the only one which she can win at this point of her life.
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Of course, when no one tries to prevent you from fulfilling your plans, it is much easier to succeed. But it happens rarely. Mostly, we face challenges of different kinds, like those encountered by Margarita, the leading character of “The Cuban Swimmer.” This determined young girl gives us an example doing everything possible and impossible to prove that she is the best in what she’s doing and that her family deserves proper treatment.
