A big theme within this unit on Gendered Violence seems to be the notion of “escapism.” We see this in Santos-Febres’ Broken Strands, where Yetsaida wants to  escape not only her looks (her curly hair, which she thinks is “ugly” and “limiting”) but also her hometown, to move to Miami. Likewise, Cleofilas in Cisneros’ Woman Hollering Creek wants to escape her entire life – her husband, his abuse, the town in which they settled. She does this by watching telenovelas as a form of escapism, and then by physically leaving, too. In Cinderella’s Secret Dream, Cleis also longs for an escape from her daily life under the oppression of her stepmother, as well as from the town in which she lives – her dream is to be an actor, playing the role of the “bad girl” as a way to escape the obedient, submissive role she has played in her own life thus far. In all three of these readings we encounter this longing for “something else.”

I think this reflects a longing to not only escape their circumstances, but also to exert agency over their own lives. As women, Yetsaida, Cleofilas and Cleis have been subject to the constraints placed around them by their fathers, brothers, husbands, and society at large. Yetsaida’s desire to pursue hair school in Miami, and Cleis’s pursuit of her acting career, are ways in which they can shake the yoke of suppression at the hands of their father and stepmother, respectively. For Cleofilas, fleeing her town means taking control of her situation where her father, husband and society had always exerted control. Thus, not only is this recurring theme of “escapism” reflective of a need to literally flee a situation; it represents these womens’ reclamation of agency, decision-making and control over their own lives.