The constant use of literary figures to describe the situation (in this case the domestic violence, abuse, etc.) leaves me speechless, the author could not have used other resources as the effect on the reader would not be the same, it is almost perfect, “They want to tell each other what they want to tell themselves. But what is bumping like a helium balloon at the ceiling of the brain never finds its way out. It bubbles and rises, it gurgles in the throat, it rolls across the surface of the tongue, and erupts from the lips– a belch.” (Cisneros, 1991). Interpreting the feeling of having to stay silent and appear fine, when inside you are about to explode, being under all this violence and having no one else to turn to.

Also when, “If they are lucky, there are tears at the end of the long night. At any given moment, the fists try to speak. They are dogs chasing their own tails before lying down to sleep, trying to find a way, a route, an out–finally–get some peace.” (Cisneros, 1991). This demonstrates the solitude and pain she is experiencing by herself, also this could be cross-referenced with Miss Soledad and Miss Dolores which in Spanish mean exactly that (onomastics/symbolism).

The feeling of the main character being lonely shows the intertextuality that people hope for the American Dream, in this case, Mexicans leave their families on the lookout for better living standards and job opportunities, they change their poor lifestyle for a “low-life” American lifestyle, they got an upgrade but it leaves us with the question if it was an actual improvement, references such as “él otro lado” which has a cultural meaning referred to as the USA, the characters express what they feel when they are looking back from the other side of the line.

Cleofilas parallelism of her life compared to a telenovela shows how it is an unattainable point of view, an example, she has never been with another man therefore there is no possible point of comparison, she also points that she doesn’t make changes or raises her voice to her husband because he was the man she was supposed to wait for her whole life, showing the cultural belief, that a woman’s life doesn’t start until she is married.

Finally, I want to highlight that it also shows the cultural shock of machismo in another country (the USA compared to Mexico), the main character was left open-mouthed when she saw a woman driving a “real” car, working and providing for herself while she was so used to being a housewife.