From Cuenca To Queens

From Cuenca to Queens

From the most ancient of times, human beings in all their forms have migrated in order to seek a better life. From our ancestors traversing continents in search of a better hunt to modern man's movements through our ever-shrinking world in search of work, the migration of people across the world is nothing new. But in so doing, the people involved in these movements risk the possibility of giving up on or losing other aspects of their lifestyle or culture that were not intended to be lost. The Quitasaca family in which the book From Cuenca to Queens is written around, experiences this paradox of migrating in search of a better life, but at what cost? Many families in Cuenca, the city in which the Quitasacas reside in during the course of this book, are weighing out the costs and the benefits of migrating, both in regards to rural to urban and transnational. Within the Quitasaca family, there lie many contradictions and differences of opinion on the costs and benefits of the migration that they have experienced. As the author, Ann Miles, points out "discussions about transnational migration even within one family are multi-stranded and usually very ambiguous". (17) Though the theme of migration affects nearly all aspects of the Quitasaca's life, there seems to be a resounding emphasis on its relation to labor and subsistence. In the book From Cuenca to Queens, there are numerous instances in which the Quitasaca family's views on labor and subsistence contradict their actions as they attempt to integrate into the modern-day economy, both in Cuenca and the United States. Such contradictions can be found in the Quitasaca's family's movement from a rural to an urban lifestyle and its impact on the views and lifestyles of the all family members, Vicente's migration to the United States and the different ways it is believed the trip will change the family's well-being as well as his character, and the opinions of Beto and Alexandra regarding how they view their involved in the economy.

Much like most migrants, Lucho and Rosa Quitasaca engaged in migration to provide a better life for themselves and especially for their children. Their migration was one of rural to urban, from the quaint yet economically-limited surroundings of the Ecuadorian countryside to the bustling metropolis that Cuenca was becoming. Along the way, though, the Quitasacas experience many difficult choices that force them to give up or lose sight of their original goals of migrating. "The Quitasacas moved to Cuenca from the small town of Cumbre in 19[83] so that Lucho would have a steady job, the children would get a good education, and the family would eventually reach a comfortable standard of living." (25) Rosa and Lucho actively seek what they think is a better life in the city, but all the while, they wish to hold onto the identity and notions of kinship they have woven into their lives as well as their children's. Many of these notions changed over the years, contradicting the original intentions of the migration by the family. In Cumbre, Rosa and Lucho had both labored in the production of cash products and were seen as 'economic partners' (50). Yet upon moving to Cuenca, Lucho saw it as proper for an 'urban family' to have a single male breadwinner, regardless of the economic stress it puts on the family, thus ending Rosa's involvement in the formal economy. Yet this notion by Lucho that the family needs a sole breadwinner is contradicted by himself as their oldest son, Vicente, reaches adulthood. When he expresses his intentions of migrating to the United States for more plentiful and higher-earning job prospects, Lucho fully expects the family to be included in the potential bounty of capital. (109) There are also contradictions in the ways in which Rosa and Lucho convey the virtues and evils of the capitalist economy of the city to their children. Rosa tells her children a story that involves two sisters and their pursuit of a man that will provide for them. One sister marries a simple man, while the other girl looks for a man that's wealthy and powerful. In the end, the wealthy man is revealed to be the devil and the woman that pursued his wealthy faÐ*ade learns that looking for such a man is dangerous. (37) Miles suggests that perhaps one of the important themes in this story is to vilify the blind pursuit of material wealth and protect the virtues of family and the idea that the virtues of hard work will reward those willing to commit to it. (38) As time progresses for the Quitasaca family, though, many of these values are placed on the back burner. Rosa and Lucho themselves are guilty of giving into the allure of an easier, more prosperous lifestyle of the big city when they moved to Cuenca, and later, when Vicente and Lucho migrate to New York. Their pursuit of an easier and more plentiful life by leaving their surroundings for what is seen as 'the better life' can be considered a stark contradiction to the morals of the devil tale. The movement by the Quitasaca family from their rural beginnings to the current urban surroundings provides them with a plethora of new social and economical dilemmas. Many of the choices they make in regards to these dilemmas, though, are both subtly and blatantly in contradiction with the original ideals they hold.

The eldest son in the book, Vicente, bears the privilege as well as the burden of being the first, and at the time, the sole Quitasaca to migrate to the United States in search of higher wages and the opportunity to, as he put it, make something of himself. (32) As Miles states, "The phrase 'do something' is significant in that it implies both an economic and a social dimension to identity formation." (16) Yet while his choice to involve in transnational migration from Cuenca to Queens is respected by members of his family, it is also contested just as equally, if not more. While his mother fears that his character will be ruined, Alexandra feels he will remain a 'nobody' in a far away land because he isn't pursuing a career. (17) The one ultimate fear though of all members of the Quitasaca family is the fear that slowly, Vicente will forget or look down upon the life and memories he had in Cuenca, and eventually sever ties with them as well. (35) Rosa is justified in such feelings since a similar occurrence has already happened once before in her family. Rosa tells the author Miles:

"Like my brother Carlos. He left when he was just a young boy of eighteen years old, and he is not the same. He comes back now, walks around, and looks at everything, but he doesn't have the words anymore. He never has a smile. ... Carlos comes back for visits, but he said that