Books (Les Misérables and Cecilia Valdés) Symbol Analysis in Of Women and Salt

What the Books Are The symbol consists of two physical novels that recur throughout the novel: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables and Cirilo Villaverde's Cecilia Valdés. Both are Spanish-language editions that first appear in 1866 in a Camagüey tobacco workshop, where the lector Antonio reads them aloud to workers. The books reappear in the 2010s in Jeanette's grandmother's house in Cuba, and finally in present-day Miami, where a Spanish edition of Les Misérables passes from Jeanette to Ana. Each appearance shifts the books' meaning while preserving their role as carriers of family history, resistance, and intergenerational connection. The books are described with attention to their physical condition: the Cecilia Valdés has a blue spine, rough to the touch, with thin, smooth pages; the Les Misérables has delicate, humidity-beaten pages with type so faded it is barely legible. These physical details matter because they emphasize the books' materiality and survival—they have endured decades, even centuries, of humidity, war, and displacement. ## Literacy and Resistance in 1866 Cuba In chapter 1, María Isabel works as the only female cigar roller in the workshop. The novels read aloud by Antonio are her gateway to worlds beyond the sugarcane fields. When Antonio gives her a copy of Cecilia Valdés, telling her she embodies the protagonist, he also discovers she cannot read—and offers to teach her. The book becomes a courtship gift, but also a tool of liberation: learning to read opens a door that labor alone could not. María Isabel's response to the books is telling: she traces the words with her fingers, comparing the need to follow the arcs and bends of letters to the craft of rolling tobacco. The comparison links literacy to her existing skill, suggesting that reading is another form of skilled labor—and another form of resistance. The workshop's reading of Les Misérables was chosen by 'rare consensus' among the workers, suggesting the novel's themes of rebellion and redemption resonated with their own circumstances. When Spanish soldiers arrive with an edict ending all readings, Antonio and María Isabel hold secret reading sessions in a sugarcane field—a direct act of resistance. The books are not merely entertainment; they are political acts. The connection between the two novels is made explicit when Antonio reads Victor Hugo's letter to Emilia Casanova de Villaverde, wife of the author of Cecilia Valdés. Hugo's words—'Who are we, weakness? No, we are force'—become a rallying cry that echoes through the novel's later chapters. ## The Books in Jeanette's Cuba Visit In chapter 9, Jeanette visits her grandmother in Cuba and discovers the same books in a termite-ridden bookcase. The Cecilia Valdés is dated 1839; the Les Misérables is a Spanish translation that appears to be a contemporary. In the margin of Les Misérables, Jeanette finds the word 'fuerza' (force) scrawled in ornate script—a direct link to Hugo's letter read aloud in the 1866 workshop. Jeanette's response to the books reveals her character: she calculates how much Oxy she could buy by selling the antique book, then steals it in the middle of the night. Her rationalizations—that she's 'saving' the book, that she'll repay her grandmother—echo the self-deception of addiction. The books, which represented literacy and resistance for María Isabel, become a potential source of drug money for Jeanette. ## The Books in Present-Day Miami In chapter 12, Carmen gives Ana a Spanish edition of Les Misérables that belonged to Jeanette, inscribed 'We are more than we think we are.' This inscription transforms the book's meaning: from a symbol of collective resistance ('we are force') to a message of individual worth. The book that survived from 1866 Cuba to present-day Miami carries not just family history but a direct message from Jeanette to Ana—a girl who, like María Isabel, has been displaced and dispossessed. ## Thematic Connections The books connect several of the novel's central themes: - Intergenerational trauma: The books carry the weight of generations—María Isabel's loss, Jeanette's addiction, Ana's deportation. Each woman inherits not just the physical object but the history it contains. - Mother-daughter relationships: The books pass between women—from Antonio to María Isabel, from the walls of the Cuban house to Jeanette, from Jeanette to Ana. They are a form of inheritance that bypasses the fraught mother-daughter bonds depicted elsewhere in the novel. - Migration and displacement: The books travel from Cuba to Miami, surviving revolutions, exile, and deportation. They are among the few objects that make the journey. - Addiction and recovery: Jeanette's theft of the book connects her addiction to her family history. The book she steals is the same one that represented resistance for her ancestor. - Class inequality and privilege: The books were hidden in the walls of wealthy Cuban homes during the revolution, suggesting the class divisions that structure the novel. The books also function structurally: their reappearance across the novel's non-chronological timeline creates a thread of continuity that connects the 1866 narrative to the 2019 narrative. The discussion questions in the novel's reading group guide explicitly ask readers to consider the significance of a first-edition Les Misérables appearing from 1866 Cuba to present-day Miami, confirming that the books' journey is a central concern. ## Study Questions 1. How does the meaning of the books shift from 1866 to 2019? In 1866, the books represent literacy, resistance, and collective identity. By 2019, they represent individual inheritance and personal worth—the inscription 'We are more than we think we are' speaks to Ana's individual struggle rather than collective rebellion. 2. Why does Jeanette steal the book, and what does this reveal about her? Jeanette's theft reveals the grip of addiction and financial desperation. Her rationalizations show how addiction distorts moral judgment, while her eventual passing of the book to Ana suggests a desire to redeem her theft. 3. What is the significance of the 'fuerza' inscription? The word 'fuerza' connects the 1866 reading of Hugo's letter to Jeanette's discovery of the book in Cuba. It links María Isabel's world of resistance to Jeanette's world of addiction and recovery, suggesting that the force Hugo invoked is still available to later generations. 4. How do the books function as a form of inheritance? The books pass from María Isabel's world to Jeanette's to Ana's, carrying family history across generations and national borders. They are a material link between women who never meet, suggesting that inheritance is not only biological but also cultural and textual.