Fornés's Manual for a Desperate Crossing emphasizes the tangible act of constructing rafts, while Ponte's surreal story transcends reality with the idea of materials shifting between two mirrored cities. However, the makeshift structures in both texts reflect the creativity necessary to gather materials under economic constraints in order to effect change in the characters' spatial orientation.

In transforming space, the two texts differ greatly in movement. Images of movement in Fornés's play emphasize movement away from Cuba across the Florida Strait. The need to physically leave by sea shapes the elements of making in the play, as the balseros must build a raft to facilitate migration. In contrast, the tugurs in Ponte's story strive to collapse preexisting buildings in Havana. Reengineering of material within the buildings causes the collapse of space into a parallel city below. Thus, repurposing can be tailored to support varying degrees of movement.

In both texts, resistance drives creativity and movement. Historically, the construction of both rafts and lofts required engagement in the underground economy which directly undermined Cuba's legitimate economy. While Fornes' left the rafters' motivations up for interpretation, and Ponte clarified the tugur's goal of reclaiming private space, in the context of Cuba's political and economic unrest, both texts engage with building to resist the government's control.

While the reinventing of material undermines government authority in both Fornes’ Manual for a Desperate Crossing and Ponte’s “A Knack for Making Ruins”, Fornés engages with physical repositioning that challenges Ponte’s focus on the reorganization of pre-existing spaces. The texts together, in the context of 20th century Cuban history, suggest that creativity holds leverage against authority.