Cle�filas's Woman Hollering Creek

Thesis: In the short story “Woman Hollering Creek,” Sandra Cisneros emphasizes the importance of having a female figure to look up to in order to overcome the oppression women are subjected to in a patriarchal society.

The character Clemencia for Never Marry A Mexican is just so refreshing and modern. A women of her words. Her fierceness and unique voices help me realizes that these invisible double standard gender stereotypes is only as strong as to how much I believe in them. Before reading this short story, I was indulge into a society where it 's a shame for women to think of men sexually let alone a marry man. I think it is a sign from society to pretty much wanting women to be pure and well behave. But, Clemencia she goes against that current. Her thoughts are liquid and they sting. They let the readers in and be apart of her brain as a spectator. She makes the reader, realizes how powerful she is and she is able to have that power because

In the story, Cleofilas has always thought that if a man ever strikes her, she would strike back. However, as the story progresses, Cleofilas starts to endure her husband’s abuse. The first time Juan Pedro hits her she is too surprised to even shed a tear or try to defend herself (Cisneros, 1991, p.249). Cisneros wants to address domestic violence because many women feel helpless when they are in controlling and abusive circumstances. Moreover, a controlling and abusive relationship causes a great deal of tension and unhappiness, which Cleofilas experiences throughout the story.

She doesn't know being beaten by her husband is not a normal thing. She is living in the suburbs with her husband with neighbors who in their own way, are trapped as well. Cisneros also shows how life can be for Cleofilas when a mom is not present to guide heir, again, Cleofilas's only guide are the television series. "The creek, the televonelas and the border define the mythic spaces given to Cleofilas in her fantasies of escape from a battering husband."(Mullen 6) The town which Cisneros chose to have as the setting of the story, there isn't much for her to do;" in the town where she grew up, there isn't much to do except accompany the aunts and godmothers to the house of one or the other to play cards."(Cisneros 44) Using that, Cisneros helps the reader to get a taste of how the environment is. An environment which women don't have a say in, an environment where woman don't have the equal power as men; the environment Cleofilas was raised in.

  The novels The House on Mango Street (Cisneros 1984) and Woman Hollering Creek (Cisneros 1992) relate the new American through the eyes of Cisneros. The women in both novels are caught in the middle of their ethnic identity and their American identity, thus creating the "New American." Cisneros moved between Mexico and the United States often while growing up, thus making her feel "homeless and displaced" (Jones and Jorgenson 109).

Lupe's first love was the Colonel who was fighting in the Revolution. Everyone in the box canyon believed that the Colonel would steal their gold mine and give it to the Americans. Lupe loved this man with all her heart and couldn't believe that anyone thought he would do such a thing to hurt the people of Mexico. And Dona Guadalupe had to tell her that her first loyalty should be to her family and it didn't revolve around the man you love. The goal of both families was to one day see their children be married and have children of their own.

Cisneros’ family bounced back and forth between Mexico and the United States for most of her youth, which led to firsthand experience in the difficulties of growing up as a multicultural person (Doyle. 54-55). As an adult, she settled in San Antonio, Texas, but that feeling of not belonging to either culture never left her. She drew on this feeling as inspiration for many works, including “Woman Hollering Creek,” a short story about a Mexican woman, named Cleofilas, brought to live in the United States by her new husband. She is excited to leave her lazy brothers and old-fashioned father behind, and dreams of the endless possibilities that

Most women in America nowadays are lucky enough to consider themselves to be an independent individual, but females were not always guaranteed their freedoms. Throughout the early 1900’s, authors would characterize husbands to be controlling figures. In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins demonstrates just how possessive the husband is to his wife in their marriage. This short story shows just how miserable the woman is to be in a marriage with John because John, thinks it would be best that his wife is isolated to get over her postpartum depression.“The Yellow Wallpaper” demonstrates how a male dominated society leads to the woman not being their own individual by using characterization, narrator perspective, and conflict between women and society.

Alterations: Comparing the Changes Caused by Marriage of the two Bessie Head Short Stories, “Life” and “Snapshots of a Wedding”

Sandra Cisneros’s short story “Never Marry a Mexican” deals heavily with the concept of myth in literature, more specifically the myth La Malinche, which focuses on women, and how their lives are spun in the shadows on men (Fitts). Myths help power some of the beliefs of entire cultures or civilizations. She gives the reader the mind of a Mexican-American woman who seems traitorous to her friends, family and people she is close to. This causes destruction in her path in the form of love, power, heartbreak, hatred, and an intent to do harm to another, which are themes of myth in literature. The unreliable narrator of this story was created in this story with the purpose to show her confusion and what coming from two completely different

The other main character of the story is Adelina a girl who leaves her home in California to go to Mexico. Adelina is driven out of the United States because her family won’t accept her relationship with her lover, so they both decide to go to Tijuana, a city in Mexico. Not much is said about Adelina’s experienced in the United States. What we do know is that she had a family that loved her, but she decided to leave it all behind to be together with her boyfriend Gerardo. In Mexico she finds nothing but shame and misery because Gerardo could not find a job and the only way for them to make money was for her to be a prostitute. Besides having to expose her body, Adelina, is physically and emotionally mistreated by her boyfriend until it finally leads to her death when she tells him that she is going back to the United States with Juana.

Writing in the 20th century was great deal harder for a Chicano then it was for a typical American at this time. Although that did not stop this author, Sandra Cisneros. One of her famous novels, Woman Hollering Creek was a prime example of how a combined culture: Mexican-Americans, could show their pride and identity in this century. In conjunction, gave the opportunity for women to speak their voice and forever change the culture of Latino/a markets. Not only did it express identity/gender roles of women and relationships, but using these relationships to combine the cultures of Mexican and American into a hybrid breed. This novel, should have been a view-point for the future to show that there is more to life than just gender and race.

Woman Hollering Creek is a book of short stories published in 1991. The author, Sandra Cisneros, separated her book into three sections. The section that will be analyzed is the first section where the narrators are female children. Out of the many stories in section one, the three that will be focused on are, "Mericans," "My Friend Lucy Who Smells Like Corn," and "Barbie-Q." The children in these three stories are all lower class, Mexican-American females. These stories have been described by Thompson as Cisneros remembering her childhood, filled with no male figures, lack of close female friendships, and poverty (415-417). Each story shares both similar themes and different

Woman Hollering Creek, by Sandra Cisneros gives a vivid and imaginative view into the Hispanic culture. Cisneros expertly weaves ideas and truths of the world, from her insight on economics, religion, and gender. For example, she depicts the lives of mistresses and how their lives affected themselves and others. Cisneros’s conclusion about these women is definitely negative in tone she pities the women in these positions and wishes to reach out to them. Proof of this concept comes from Cisneros’s most notable contribution to the literary and social worlds comes in the form of one of her short stories, “Bien Pretty”, which delves into the sad realty and hope-filled possibilities for women. Analyzing these facets of Cisneros work better informs and challenges readers to rise above the stereotypes of society.

From a young age Clemencia’s mother often warned her to never marry a Mexican man. Clemencia’s mother being a Mexican American and her father being Mexican born and raised, she felt that she didn’t belong to any particular class. Proof of this is when she states “I'm amphibious. I’m a person who doesn’t belong to any class’’ (Cisneros 111). Opening, it’s a simple observation that Clemencia is somewhat out of place, with little to no direction.