From the Cuban motif hanging on the walls, to the Bacardi in his bar and the music of Willie Chirino playing on the stereo, Firmat described his home as "truly a little Havana." He also imposed Cuban culture on his children from the beginning in hopes that they would secure his own tenuous ties to his homeland. By speaking only Spanish in their presence and talking about the homeland constantly he hoped to transmit Cuban attitudes and traditions. .
Firmat concludes that he was never quite ready for life outside Little Havana, calling the place he was raised "the sheltered environment of an ethnic enclave." He longs for Miami as he feels it the only place he can "inhale Cuban oxygen." .
As the years go by in Chapel Hill, the tight grasp he has on Cuba slowly starts to loosen as he begins to take hold of his American side. He didn't promote change in his home. However, he allowed it to happen. Overwhelming his children with Cuban culture and leaving no room for American culture led Firmat to conclude that his kids may soon not feel at home in their home. This is the last thing he wants. Ultimately, he gives up on his "project of re-creating Little Havana in Chapel Hill." He realizes that it is his children that have helped to make him an American and helped him to gather the incentive to reach a place he calls "after-exile." He says that he gave Cuba to his kids, and they reciprocated by giving him America. With the help of his American wife and his two CBA (Cuban-bred American) children, he finally comes to acknowledge his need to celebrate Cuba, while embracing the American he has come to cherish.
El Super, a film directed by Leon Ichaso, gives a glimpse into the harsh life of a Cuban exile, Roberto, and his family, as he works as a building superintendent in New York City during the long and cold winter of 1978. Roberto, refuses to assimilate into his new country, dreaming instead of his warm and beautiful homeland of Cuba.
