Monthly Archives: October 2021

10/29/21

Broken Strands and Brand Names

This week we read Broken Strand by Maya Santos-Febres and one point of discussion that I found particularly interesting was the use of brand names within the short story. Santos-Febres peppers her short story with a number of specific brands from Breck to Clairol. In Yetsaida’s narrative, she states “she and Miss Kety had given their lives to the worship of true beauty, that which is real and appears on the screens and in the ads.” (5) This quote offers a few insights which may be helpful in better understanding the use of brands. First, Yetsaida and Miss Kety equate true beauty with what appears on screens and in the ads. The racist beauty standards that filter through the media become “true beauty” rather than idealized beauty. But this quote also suggests that the idea of beauty is a concept that is taught and imprinted onto people from afar. In the Puerto Rican context, beauty ideals from American advertisements create an impossible goal in relation to appearance.   Additionally, the use of brand names goes hand in hand with mentions of MeSalvé by creating a local specificity. Someone who has had their hair relaxed immediately understands “Easystyle Products” and the process that goes along with the product. The brand names are cultural signifiers that place the story in its proper context. Santos-Febres uses her short story to display the immense pressure black women feel to change their appearance to fit eurocentric beauty standards. She embeds this discussion within a broader analysis of domestic violence.

10/29/21

The power of advertising

As I read the story, and specifically when the hair products were mentioned, I felt like I was reading an advertisement for hair products. I found it very interesting how the narrator utilized proper nouns and similes of advertisements to build the picture of the beauty standards that are enforced on the black and curly-haired people of Puerto Rico. Imagery is utilized on page 2 to introduce the concept, where the women are described to walk down from the bird and have perfect hair that the wind plays with. This is an image I think most people, or women, know well. The shiny long and perfectly brushed hair being carried around in the wind is an image we know too well from TV adverts. The advertising then continues on page 5 where the specific name of the brand is mentioned “Clairol Gel Colors Purple Blue Black without peroxide or ammonia”, “Easystyle Products Hair Relaxer Without Lye” as well as “Swedish Biolage products, they aren’t cruel to animals or the environment” on page 7.

The use of proper nouns and the complete names of the products makes it feel like the narrator and the people in this society have it ingrained into their brains. The advertisement and need to reach those standards have become so important to them that they repeat them word for word, as well as the ingredients they include and the benefits of choosing these brands. These proper nouns stood out in the paragraphs because they broke the flow of the narration, but at the same time, they demonstrated the symbol that Miss Kety is for beauty standards in this community. The products are mentioned with such authority, it’s almost inevitable for the people to want to buy them.

10/29/21

Broken by the West

“She abandons herself to the pulling sensation, to the delicious feeling of fingers that don’t want to break anything of hers, that want to leave her hair beautiful and radiant for the west wind to play with and make her a woman.” (Santos-Febres, 6).

This passage from Mayra Santos-Febres short story “Broken Strands” evokes several of the major themes within the story. I was struck by the image of “fingers that don’t want to break anything of hers” (6) which allude to the epidemic of broken noses of women in Trastalleres. This depiction of pain (“pulling sensation” (6)) seems to be a pleasurable pain, because the outcome allows Yetsaida to conform and uphold idealized White and western standards of beauty she so desperately craves. This is illustrated by the “west wind” (6) that will play with [her hair] and make her a woman” (6). Ironically, continued use of heat treatments like straightening often cause permanent damage, or breakage, to hair, leading the hair’s owner to eventually have to cut it short, and begin growing it out again. The beautiful, straight hair she craves is actually the broken hair, and her natural hair is the unblemished, perfect one. This is confirmed to the reader on page 5, with Miss Kety saying “Oh, these roots, girl. Your hair’s gonna break right off. Look at all these broken strands.” The broken noses are evidence of physical abuse against the women, just as the broken hair a sign of abuse, too. However, beyond the physical damage to each strand of hair, the broken strands signify the internalized racism and struggle to conform to western beauty standards that the women of Puerto Rico experience. This dichotomy of physical pain versus emotional pain is visible on the faces and heads of each woman who has experienced abuse.

10/28/21

Change for the better

On page 7 of “Broken Strands” by Mayra Santos-Febres, Miss Kety makes the statement that “Sometimes you have to remake yourself because the first time you came out badly.” What does this phrase mean? It means that one has to be willing to take the necessary steps to remake oneself to get their desired image and rise from the less-than-ideal life one has been given.

Despite having a broken nose, Miss Kety is seen by many in her neighbourhood (including Yetsaida) as a goddess, but how did she get there? On page 2, it is mentioned that Miss Kety does her own hair and straightens it with fine products from a discount store. 

She is similar to Yetsaida and many other girls in the neighbourhood. Miss Kety and Yetsaida are both black females with a broken nose that they received from an abusive man. Yetsaida had to wait until the age of 13 and endure the constant abuse, brought about by her curly hair and internalized racism, from her father to finally change her hair. Attaining the desired image is not the only thing one must do. To maintain the desired image, one must continue to work hard by taking good care of their hair and skin.

10/28/21

Many Women Stay. 

Sandra Cisneros takes her time setting the context in Woman Hollering Creek. She describes their tough relationship. They struggle to find passion in it. Most of the workload is done begrudgingly towards each other. Neither of them left out of a sense of obligation to one another. They stick through it because they rushed into a relationship. It happens slow and then suddenly. Sandra recognizes this and paces the story in the same way. Each day gets a little worse, and they fight a little harder. It creeps up on them and leaves them surprised the first time it happened. “The first time it happened she had been so surprised she didn’t cry out or try to defend herself” like she had  always thought she would. She had learned to expect it and had a plan for if it did. Emotionally its really tough to prepare for something like that. It can numb a person. Abuse is not something to be tolerated. Sandra Cisneros tells a  common story. Yet in many cases leaving can be so hard. Many women stay. Woman Hollering Creek is empowering and inspiring with a postitive ending. It can be easy to convince oneself they didn’t mean it, won’t do it again, or worse, that  they’ve deserved it. Then that its not that bad. It was integral to Cleófilia’s and her children’s wellbeing that the health worker had reported the abuse. Do not stand for abuse. It can be hard to leave emotionally and physically. Fear is a powerful feeling and we need to do what we can to help. Stay weary for signs of gendered violence. It can and does happen. 

10/28/21

Vicious Cycles

La Llorona, or the weeping woman, is a folkloric ghost who drowns her children to punish her cheating husband, but immediately regrets it, and wails to express that emotion. This story of regret is exemplified twice in Cisneros’ story, first with the mention of La Llorona and also with Juan Pedro. The actions of Juan Pedro following the first time he hurts Cleófilas, with his “tears of repentance and shame” showcase a similar reaction to La Llorona (Cisneros 223). This connection creates a parallel between Juan Pedro and La Llorona. They both commit acts of violence, feel a sense of shame, yet continue to hurt others. The connection between these two illustrates the perpetuation of violence, especially gendered violence. The vicious cycle of violence is further enforced by the cyclical nature of the stream. Always moving, never changing.

These stories and images are the tools that Cisneros uses to critique the entrenched nature of domestic violence. It is interesting to note that at the end of the story when Felice breaks Cleófilas out of the her violent home, she screams when they cross the bridge over the creek. Felice exemplifies the hollering woman, but this time, it is a cry of freedom and power. The cycle of violence and damage and regret is broken by a women who screams of power and liberty. The screams begin as pain, and end as hope. This cycle becomes something different, it transitions from a cycle of violence to one of new beginnings. This showcases how women can break cycles of violence, and can help others do the same.

10/28/21

Establishing Empathy via Metafiction

What I found most interesting about “Woman Hollering Creek” was the way Sandra Cisneros manipulated the narrative voice throughout the story. Although the story mostly had a third person omniscient point of view, it was also malleable by transitioning into first and second person too. For instance, when Juan Pedro was scolding Cleofilas, the narrative voice shifted form third person to second person: “so why can’t you just leave me in peace, woman” (p. 223), as if we as readers took on Cleofilas’s point of view and the narrator became Juan. The narrator had also morphed into Cleofilas in the scene where she tries to convince Juan to take their their son to the doctor: “Yes. Next Tuesday at five-thirty. I’ll have Juan Pedrito dressed and ready. (…) As soon as you come home from work. We wont make you ashamed” (p. 226). It is clear that Cleofilas was addressing the reader as if they were Juan. Additionally, even when the narrator remained in third person, it wasn’t difficult to notice their bias in favour of Cleofilas, pleading to Juan: “She has to go back [to the doctor] next Tuesday Juan Pedro, please, for the new baby. For their child” (p. 226).

The reader’s constant awareness of Cleofilas’s situation and their emotional involvement can be distinguished as metafiction. Metafiction in this case serves to highlight the parallels between Cisneros’s fictitious world and the real world where generational trauma and domestic abuse is a reality for many Mexican Americans, outside of fiction. It’s one thing to learn about the issues of domestic violence via reading statistics or news reports, but it’s another to personally experience or be able to empathize with the victims of such tragedies. Cisneros utilizes pathos, in the form of metafiction, so that her readers can empathize with the characters in her story, which consequently emphasizes the gravity of the issues at stake.

10/28/21

Beauty is Pain

By describing the sun as you would blood preceding or following instances of violence, Mayra Santos-Febres, the author of the short story, Broken Strand, adds new meaning to the common phrase, “beauty is pain”. The first time Santos-Febres ties together the sun, blood, and violence is after describing the abuse of  Yetsaida’s father. Her father comes stumbling in from the streets, yelling and hitting, grabbing her mothers nose. Yetsaida describes, “the river that comes out of the nose, red, neon red like Miss Kety’s comb. The sun arrives, red, red, red; it overflows with blood like a ripening womb, like it has a deep gnash in its system, like they had given it a tremendous beating” (4). The scene of a broken nose is not pretty, yet the suns rays, described like flowing blood, is somehow poetic, and almost beautiful. Furthermore, Miss Kety constantly reminds her clients that they cannot move, as they could be seriously hurt by the hot comb; yet, in order to be beautiful the girls must endure the harsh heat to get the straight hair they see as beautiful. Similarly, sunsets are seen as beautiful, but when described as the red light pour in and over the walls, the reader begins to question its beauty, as it begins to sound more violent. In all these instances, pain, either through the heat of the comb or the blood of the sun, is necessary for the beauty of the straight hair or the beautiful colors of the sunset. These women in Yetsaida’s town must endure incredible pain to feel beautiful, enduring the hot comb and the abuse of their husbands. “Beauty is pain” is an accepted saying by many, yet by almost making the reader uncomfortable with the description of beauty being painful through the sun, blood, and violence, Santos-Febres calls into question the saying, opening up a new discussion into why we believe this and how this sentiment is open to change.

10/28/21

The Bridge of Change

In “Woman Hollering Creek,” by Sandra Cisneros, the bridge not only functions as a structure to carry a path over water, but also serves as a symbol that crosses between pain (Dolores), solitude (Soledad) and comfort (Chela). This is depicted in the text when Cleofilas is beat and then left alone by her husband often in Seguin while back in her home town she was comfortable — even if there wasn’t “very much to do,” (220). Water, on the other hand, is another symbol commonly used for change in literature. Thus, begs the question, where does the idiom water under the bridge come into play? The crossing of the river further illustrates the Chicano experience of crossing the Rio Grande, a river commonly known for its disputed border between Mexico and Texas during the 19th century. This traversal not only occurs literally, but in the understanding of individuality and culture as well.  Notably, Seguin corresponds to an American town during the 19th century, while the protagonist’s home town represents more of a Mexican hometown. Furthermore, the bridge over water exemplifies a third meaning. By crossing over the bridge for perhaps the last time, Cleofilas is letting bygones be bygones, or in other words, letting it be just water under the bridge. Through this use of symbolism and imagery, Cisneros masterfully manages to capture the emotions and struggles of the Chicanos as well as the tones, identity, and culture of both Mexican and American women during and after that time period.

10/28/21

The Hair god: “Broken Strand” Analysis

The narrative of a young, black, abused girl is framed in “broken Strand” to describe the grievous distress regularly and generationally occurring in the black, Puerto Rican community of Trastalleres. Yetsaida, the young black girl, is seen by the audience severely obsessing over the style of her hair –  a shallow topic if the proper context is not applied. She is a girl that has lived a faithful routine of verbal and physical abuse in her home life. As the abuse is the result of her father, she is unable to come into a position of influence in her situation.  Throughout the story, the audience witnesses her majorly talking in regards to her hair and her desires with what she wants to do with it, while she slightly skims through the topic of her abuse. Indicating that she uses her hair as means to cope with her troubles. She tries to use something, her hair, that is in her possession, something whose form can be molded at her whim – in order to gain a sense of control in her life since she is unable to change anything in her home. As a black girl, her hair is viewed as ugly and is a threat to her because of her internalized racism. Since her hair is a stable and constant item in her life, as well as a threat, she seems to be motivated to conquer it in order to gain a sense of power while being distracted. Interestingly, Yetsaida barely mentions her mother in her thoughts while becoming fixated with Miss Kety. Indicating that she does not see her mother as capable or willing to protect her, care for her, and keep her safe. She becomes drastically attached to a woman in her neighborhood – the hairstylist, Miss Kety. As her parents were unable to care for her, she unconsciously assigned the role over to Miss Kety. To Yetsaida, Miss Kety has the perfect hair – straight, red, and soft – all that she aspires to be. Yetsiada idolizes her, wants to be just like her, compares herself to her, and follows her path in life. To Yetsaida, perhaps, Miss Kety is viewed as the ‘saviour’ – the path for conquering her hair – her threat – if she can conquer her hair, she might be able to conquer her life.