Tag Archives: Cisneros

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

Pain & Suffering

Spanglish plays a key role in providing meaning to the names in this story. Specifically, the names Soledad and Dolores, Cleofilas’ neighbours, which reflect the impact that men have on the lives of women in this town. The suffering of these two neighbours centres around the loss of the men in their life. Soledad, meaning solitude, suffers from a life of solitude after her husband dies. Dolores, meaning pain, suffers from a life of pain and grief after her two sons and her husband die. This is a direct example of onomastics and how these names provide context. The pain and solitude that these two neighbours suffer from is indicative of patriarchal society; men are the source of all pain and suffering in this society, whether they are present or not. Understanding the meaning of these neighbours’ names, makes the line, “there is no place to go. Unless one counts the neighbour ladies. Soledad on one side. Dolores on the other” (page 224) significant since it reflects that no matter where Cleofila goes, she is trapped by pain and suffering. While she is unhappy and unsafe in her marriage with Juan Padre, her neighbours’ state of despair reflects that even without her husband she also faces a miserable life. There is no escape in this patriarchal society, Cleofila is doomed to suffer. Additionally, on page 227, the line, “this lady doesn’t even speak English. She hasn’t been allowed to call home or write or nothing”, reflects Cleofilas’ struggles in this English-speaking society. Her poor English, therefore, acts as another method of control placed on her; she can not navigate in this English speaking country alone, she is dependent on her abusive husband. She is unable to even ask for help, it is her bruises in the end that signal her need for escape from her husband and this controlled and patriarchal town. 

Therefore, Spanglish offers important meanings to understand the critiques of patriarchy that Sandra Cisneros is attempting to make; she suggests through the names of the neighbours and their situations, that solitude and pain is an inescapable reality in patriarchy. The Spanglish additionally reminds us that Cleofilas is not an English speaker, which is important as an understanding of her dependency on her husband. 

10/26/21

The Real-Life American Dream Telenovela

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.

10/25/21

Woman Hollering Creek: Evidence of masculinity and violence

The short story “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros, is an evidence of  gendered violence and masculinity. It is indeed tragic how the main character deals with violence enforced by her husband. Yet, she’s not able to contact her family or anyone for seeking help. It is quite surprising how Cleófilas comes from a pacific and carryng  family in Mexico, in where violence was never part of her daily life. Once she gets married, her life shifted completly. She has to face physical and psychological violence. Moreover, the story takes place in a social context that is based  in the benefit of manhood. Society is patriarchal and women are always second. In addition, women are expected to be obedient to their husbands, stay home and not going out without the husband’s permission. A man is expected to be successful and be the financial image of the family. Men are free to go anywhere and buy whatever  they  wish for. Moreover, when it comes to crimes against women, people do not consider that important because of the fact that women are considered inferior. Therefore, one can see how oppressive life is when one is a woman. The short story is  a good example of how gender inequality takes place. I believe in some places, this story is not far from reality. Violence and oppression still exists in many countries. In summary, I found the short story a bit frustrating because of the main character’s struggle of not being able to defend herself when she wanted to. Her oppression represented  for me, a crystal sphere that was constructed by men, yet, when she escapes, that sphere crashed.

10/24/21

we all feel loneliest when we live only in our minds

For this blog post I want to talk about the run-on sentences that Cisneros uses in Woman Hollering Creek. For example: 

“…from the times during her first year when still a newlywed she is invited and accompanies her husband, sits mute beside their conversation, waits and sips a beer until it grows warm, twists a paper napkin into a knot, then another into a fan, one into a rose, nods her head, smiles, yawns, politely grins, laughs at the appropriate moments, leans against her husband’s sleeve, tugs at his elbow, and finally becomes good at predicting where the talk will lead…”  

This device is always used when representing Cleofilas’ stream of consciousness or moments in her life when she’s uncomfortable, sad, uncertain, scared. It’s eerily accurate in representing her thought processes, because none of us think with punctuation anyways. For some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, it also has the effect of implying loneliness; perhaps this is because we (the readers) are put squarely inside of Cleofilas’ mind, and we all feel loneliest when we live only in our minds, too.  

The run-on sentences remind me of a book I’m currently reading called All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, which is about a young woman (Elfrieda) who for no specific reason wants to die. She hasn’t experienced acute trauma, doesn’t have anxiety, isn’t even particularly nihilist – she simply does not want to live anymore. Her existence every day is punctuated – perhaps defined – by thoughts of death. While Cleofilas doesn’t seem to want to die, it’s clear that most of her days are not happy ones. The run-on sentences in Woman Hollering Creek convey that in the same way as they do in Toews’ AMPS. What is it about run-on sentences that makes them so suited to stories of female struggle, I wonder? Open to suggestions

10/24/21

A Glance into What Cleofilas can be

Initially, Cleofilas perceives herself in relation to men. Her identity is forged through labels patriarchal structures assigned upon her: a daughter, a wife, a sister, a mother. Yet, we know she loves sewing and loves telenovelas and is captivated by the arroyo behind her house. But these aspects of her individuality are only narrated, never validated by other characters. Additionally, she does not hold control over her desires and ambitions. Her father, Don Serafin, permits her husband, Juan Pedro, to take her away and move to el otro lado without seeming input of what she wants (p. 219). And later, we know she is not happy with the forced move and her marriage. She constantly yearns to return to her family and move away from Juan Pedro, who is abusive and unappreciative of Cleofilas (p. 222-223). Yet, she initially submitted to his ‘love’ because she felt it was her duty to go from being a daughter to a wife and soon a mother. She was not given options, her role as a ‘good’ woman was preassigned, and a good woman does as the men in her life desire.

Yet, when Cleofilas’ husband physically abuses her, further robbing her of her emotional and physical integrity, she is ultimately pushed to separate herself from him. Primarily as means of survival, but also with great bravery and confidence, which I think come from her desire for autonomy. During the escapade, she meets Felice, the antithesis of a ‘good’ woman within the era. Felice curses, screams, owns a car, and ultimately exudes freedom, something Cleofilas appears to long for. I believe this is when Cleofilas sees her potential to live a fulfilling life in which she does not have to suffer and lose her individuality to appease the men in her life. Felice mirrors what Cleofilas can be. Although the story ends right after their meeting, one can assume that now that Cleofilas has escaped domestic abuse, she sees herself ready to be assertive in her decisions, even if there is gossip or disappointment projected upon her. She values her freedom and safety above others’ patriarchal expectations. And she understood that staying dormant to abuse would lead to a similar path to Soledad and Dolores, whose names mean loneliness and pain, as both characters are in sorrow because of the men in their lives. Yet, instead, Cleofilas chose Felice’s path, whose name sounds like feliz, meaning happy in Spanish. Thus, although the effects and projections of the patriarchy will be there as they are structural, Cleofilas, by actively challenging these predisposed notions, has higher chances of finding happiness and a more fulfilling path, rather than allowing cycles of violence to continue.