66 pages • 2 hours read
Donna Barba HigueraThe Last Cuentista
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
Personal Mementos
Personal mementos appear as a recurring motif in the story and relate to the theme of The Heart’s Memories. All of the humans who boarded the spacecraft were allowed to bring along personal belongings that held sentimental value. As the Collective evolves over the centuries the ship has been in flight, it attempts to eradicate all signs of individuality among its members. New generations are created in laboratories rather than through natural reproduction, and everyone looks and dresses alike.
Consequently, the mementos brought by the original humans in stasis have no place in a brave new world of absolute uniformity. With no such objects of their own, the Collective fails to realize the tremendous psychological significance of these simple items. Since they aren’t perceived to be particularly threatening, they are shoved into a storage room and forgotten. However, the mementos have the curious power to awaken memories. This process begins when Voxy innocently handles an old copy of a book. Even though he is a member of the Collective, the book sparks a glimmer of imagination in the boy. He then tells Petra about the book, and she unlocks the room that contains the treasure trove of humanity’s past.
Even though she risks discovery, Petra jams as many objects as she can into her collection bag and uses them to stimulate the memories of her fellow Zetas. She retrieves the obsidian necklace that Lita gave her, which presumably allows her to communicate with her dead ancestor. A silly unicorn sweatshirt reawakens Suma’s memories of her family. Javier’s book not only restores his memory but also evokes more human characteristics in Voxy. Even Javier’s childhood clothing, which Zeta-4 dons, is enough to help her remember a time when she was an Earthling. While Petra relies heavily on her cuentos to revive the memories of her shipmates, tactile contact with objects from the past seems to accomplish the same result.
The Cogs
The En Cognito programs appear at various points as a symbol of the struggle for control of the human mind. They relate to the theme of Individual Versus Group Consciousness. The Collective intends to take over the individual minds of the humans on board by brainwashing them with Cog downloads. In this way, the individual is erased, and what remains is molded to serve the group.
However, the Cog programs can also work in reverse. When Petra initially goes into stasis, she asks Ben to download literature and mythology programs into her mind. He happily agrees, and even when his own life is at risk, he continues to pour the collected literature of the world into Petra’s memory. Petra’s knowledge of world mythology will also serve the needs of a human group, but not the Collective. Her ability to access works that feature imagination and creativity put her at odds with the ideals of the Collective but in sync with the needs of the First Arrivers and her own Zeta group.
The Collective repeatedly tries to colonize Petra’s mind with information that will serve its needs, but it fails. Between Ben’s downloaded programs and Petra’s own will, the Cogs serve an entirely different purpose than brainwashing: They expand Petra’s mind rather than diminish it. While the Collective might be expected to view literature Cogs as frivolous and nonutilitarian, Nyla grasps the true implications of stories and myths. She tells Voxy that someday, a member of the Collective might be required to download these records and carry their knowledge of them for the benefit of the group. In reality, she plans to access these Cogs herself because they will give her supreme power over the Collective. In the end, Nyla is tempted by the lure of power, just like the despised Earthling humans once were. In Nyla’s case, the will of the individual has won out over the consideration of the group; absolute power can still corrupt a single member of the Collective.
The Cuentos
Legends and folktales are a recurring motif in the novel and speak to the theme of Past Versus Future. Even before she leaves Earth, Petra insists that she wants to become a cuentista like her grandmother. While the vocation might seem frivolous from a practical standpoint, it becomes vital in world-building. As mentioned earlier, the Collective is intent on eradicating humanity’s past in favor of an antiseptic, conformist future. In contrast, cuentos celebrate oddities and differences. There are fantastical figures like talking rabbits and blind fire snakes that fly through the sky, as well as Aztec legends. All of these tales are embellished and enhanced by each new generation of storytellers, who leave their own individual marks on the material. This legacy of the past takes on a dynamic life of its own as it advances into the future.
Petra is determined to keep these stories alive. At first, she revives them on shipboard for the Zetas in her sleeping cabin. As her ambition grows, she wishes to carry them into the future with her. Despite the risk that her memories will be wiped away if she is discovered, she persists in telling the cuentos. Even though she fears Voxy will betray her secret, she feels compelled to continue as a cuentista. Her determination to carry the stories forward into the future is challenged on Sagan when she believes that all the First Arrivers have been exterminated: Is there a point to telling stories if there’s no one to hear them? But even when all hope of finding refuge is gone, Petra reflects on her grandmother’s role as cuentista:
Lita’s voice fills my head. ‘Set your intention.’ Tears well in my eyes. I let my memories fill me. I am bringing all of them: Mom, Dad, Lita, Javier, and our home. Ben and my crumbling library, deep in my mind. The stories of Lita and my ancestors. I’m bringing them all to this world (308).
Unlike the Collective, Petra doesn’t believe in eradicating the past to make a better future. She will use the past as a springboard to create a brave new world, and she is rewarded for her faith when she discovers that the First Arrivers have survived, allowing her to continue the cuentista tradition.
