Cuban Swimmer Term Paper

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Cuban Swimmer (1984) -- an Abusive Trainer-Athlete Relationship

You're papi's got everything under control, understand?"(Sanchez-Scott, 1984, p. 913) The proud young athlete who is mentored by a devoted coach is a common cliches in sports stories. "Hispanic-Americans use athletic skills to propel themselves into the mainstream of middle- class life in this country. It's a traditional theme. The basic plot was advanced long ago in such plays as Clifford Odets's 'Golden Boy,' and since then, in scores of films, books and movies, members of ethnic groups have moved out of the slums." (Mitgang, 1984) However, in the play "The Cuban Swimmer," such a conventions is turned on its head. The play highlights the potential abuses of the athlete and coach relationship by contrasting the young heroine's poetic and triumphant efforts with the crass desire of her trainer for media exposure. Her trainer is motivated by his own needs, not by his young charge's athletic glory.

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The fact that the heroine's trainer is also her father further complicates the nature of the abuses Margarita suffers under his hard tutelage. Throughout the short play, her father brusquely tells her how to breath and stroke and reveals his profound ignorance of the true nature of the water and his daughter's increasingly weary body. Despite the contention of Eduardo, the father of the title character, that he has everything under control, the play "The Cuban Swimmer" highlights how little control Eduardo really has over his own emotions as he becomes caught up in the media frenzy that ensues as a result of his teenage daughter's determination and swimming prowess. The value of independence from a close-knit but corrupt family in the narrative of the young, ethnic athlete who 'makes good' is the….....

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