“Celia del Pino, equipped with binoculars and wearing her best house dress and drop pearl earrings, sits in her wicker swing guarding the north coast of Cuba.”

This is an early moment of Celia’s characterization that illustrates several key elements of her personality. Celia wears the drop pearl earrings gifted to her by her former lover Gustavo, who long ago left her in Cuba. She has never fully recovered from this relationship, and she still wears these earrings to honor the unrequited love that she has held onto for the entirety of her adult life. Additionally, she watches her section of Cuba’s coast for invading American vessels, which implies her dedication to communism and to the cult of personality surrounding El Líder.

“Felicia laughed when she remembered how her mother had warned her not to bring shells home. After the tidal wave, the house was full of them.”

For Celia, shells are harbingers of bad luck, but for Felicia, they are a connection to the sea and to the Yoruba Orisha of Yemayá. The women in this family remain deeply divided by their beliefs, and the divergent opinion here on the meaning of shells illustrates their profound ideological differences. Although not entirely free from superstition, Celia is mostly atheist in her religious orientation. Felica, on the other hand, grows increasingly dedicated to Santería as the narrative progresses.