# Economic Exploitation and Sugar Monoculture in To Cuba and Back

> Theme guide for To Cuba and Back by Richard Henry Dana Jr..

The narrative highlights how Cuba's economy is dominated by sugar production for export, with enormous wealth generated for a few while the island is heavily taxed by Spain and lacks industrial or intellectual diversity.

## Where it surfaces

- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/vii): The narrator reflects on the Coolie trade as a manifestation of capital dominating labor, linking it to broader economic exploitation in Cuba.
- [X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/x): The narrator's journey to Matanzas is motivated by the desire to see sugar plantations in operation, and the description of Coolie labor highlights the exploitative economic system.
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xi): The chapter describes the vast cane fields, the sugar mill, and the labor of slaves and coolies, highlighting the plantation economy.
- [First Day on a Sugar Estate](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xii): The chapter details the economics of sugar production, including profits, risks, and the harsh labor system that underpins the plantation's success.
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xiii): The chapter details the sugar production process, the plantation's daily routine, and the sacrifice of coffee trees to sugarcane, illustrating the dominance of sugar monoculture.
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xiv): The narrator contrasts the peaceful coffee estate with the 'life consuming toil' of sugar ingenios, highlighting the economic pressures on planters.
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xvi): The chapter highlights the sugar monoculture's dominance and the heavy taxation that enriches Spain while limiting Cuban economic diversity.
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xix): The prison's use of money to determine treatment reflects economic exploitation and class-based justice.
- [Habits of the Cubans, Visit to the Bishop, and the Coolie Mart](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xxi): The Coolie market illustrates the economic exploitation of Chinese laborers, sold into servitude for eight years with minimal pay and poor conditions.
- [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xxii): The visit to the Almacen de azúcar highlights the scale of sugar storage, and the breakfast discussion covers slave counts and tax evasion by planters.
- [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/xxiii): Focus on material resources, sugar crop, and the wealth generated by commerce and production.
- [Slavery](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/slavery): Coolie labor is described as a system of forced labor for sugar estates, with masters motivated only by labor value and neglect after usefulness ends.
- [Material Resources—Education](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/material-resources-education): Cuba's economy is dominated by sugar production, with little diversification, making it vulnerable and dependent on a single staple.
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/chapters/endnotes): The fire's destruction of sugar mills, cane, and stored sugar highlights the vulnerability and central economic role of the sugar industry.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/themes/economic_exploitation
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/to_cuba_and_back_se/themes