Final answer:
Metaphors for Cuba and America after the Spanish-American War could include Cuba as a newly-fledged bird under the U.S.'s caretaker role with conditions, or America as a gardener who secured influence in the Caribbean. The relationship involved a mix of Cuban independence and American interventionist policies like the Platt Amendment.
Step-by-step explanation:
After the Spanish-American War, Cuba and America's relationship can be described using various metaphors that capture their complex dynamics. One might liken Cuba to a bird that, having escaped the cage of Spanish rule, found itself under the watchful eye of a new caretaker, the United States, who while proclaiming freedom, installed a 'Platt Amendment' perch for intervention. America could be viewed as a gardener, who after uprooting the Spanish weeds from the Caribbean garden, planted the seeds of influence and control, ensuring the growth of their interests aligned with the Monroe Doctrine.
The events resulted in Cuba's reluctant resignation to American oversight as part of the Treaty of Paris and involved a strategic blend of independence and dependence. While the Teller Amendment provided Cuba with some reassurances, American interventions and installed policies made one question how well America lived up to its ideals of an 'empire of liberty' in Cuba. Nonetheless, the unity of Cuban rum and American Coca Cola in the creation of 'Cuba Libre' drink ironically symbolizes the complex intertwinement of these two nations' fates following the war.