Reading “Woman Hollering Creek” (well, the first half) was like going into a Chinese restaurant and being able to get 8 different types of dim sum for the price of one. Am I the only one who thinks that reading Cisernos’ work is like…reading the work of numerous authors? Her use of voice allows her audience to hear the inside thoughts of her characters as well as their speaking voices. One story sounds like a telenovela, another, a tragedy, another a scene from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. It is almost as if “Woman Hollering Creek” is an anthology of Chicano Literature, each story as individual as the character telling it.

What I loved most about this book was the imagery. I was able to see “tri-ish” and hear her heels and see her hoop earrings and mini-skirt. I was able to smell the corn in the little girl’s hair and I could feel the boredom that comes with being in a family of devout Catholics. I also appreciated, as some of you stated, that this book seemed -real-. It seemed like literal literature. A non-fictional fiction. There were no traces of devils or dyed skin in this book. Only stories I could hear actual people saying, whether it be in a kindergarten playground or in a skeezy, smoke clouded bar.

Though I feel we got a glimpse of what “Chicano Culture” is in the last book, I feel like this book exemplifies the hybrid culture that embodies Mexican-Americans who live around the border or around the United States and Canada. This book shows the joys and difficulties and that accompany Chicanos throughout their lives. The Latino influences and the “American” ones (who is to say who is an “American”, Mexico is in America but that is another can of worms).

My main point is that this book is…real.

Oh, and when they Cisernos mentions “La Llorona”, I remembered this scene from the movie “Frida”. Beautiful. https://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=0gQ31m4Yt0s”

Much like Tomas Rivera, the many voices of Chicanas in this novel fuse together and become one voice which qualifies their existence. Unlike Rivera, it is a purely female voice.
A central issue in this novel is power struggle between men and women. To Cisneros, the chasm between the sexes is a deep one. There is little harmony. No man can be completely trusted; even grandfathers, fathers, have done their share to make mothers, wives, suffer.
But in bittersweet, poetic language Cisneros recognizes how much women can need men, and worship them, and how they can give all of themselves knowingly to someone who will hurt them, to watch them as they sleep and hold them after they’ve been hit. It’s painfully beautiful and very real. Not always is the man abusive, weak, or cowardly, but he is never as strong as the woman. Cisneros’ women love their men more than their men love them and they know it. They accept humbly that a woman’s way of loving is much more vast and hurts so much more.
If you read the “About the Author” section, it says, “she is nobody’s mother and nobody’s wife”. Like her characters, it seems Cisneros is portrayed as some sort of survivor, who in the end can only trust herself.
Underlying every story there is a recognition of woman’s primal power…”You’re nothing without me. I created you from spit and red dust”(75), says one of her characters to a man, emphasizing with imagery the power of creation that women hold above men.

so when i saw the title of our next book i kind of thought ‘oh no, more feminism…’ but have been pleasantly surprised so far.

Well the first time I read Woman Hollering Creek I had a hard time piecing these stories together…probably because, as critic Ilan Stavans claims, they are more like “verbal photographs” (a little tidbit from our Wikipedia article!) therefore, they often lack either a beginning, middle or end…or sometimes even all three. After doing some researching for our article, I’ve gained a huge appreciation for why Cisneros writes the way she does, and in reading this book a second time with knowing what to expect, I have enjoyed it so much more. Instead of trying to figure out how one story is connected to the next, I was able to step back and see more of the overall picture. I really like how she categorizes her writings into the three sections: childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and that within these sections one can learn through Cisneros’ down-to-earth writing style about what life is truly like for chicanas, living on either side of the Mexican border.

My favourite of the three sections would have to be “There Was a Man, There Was a Woman”, and I particularly was drawn in by the title story “Woman Hollering Creek”. I had the same reaction while reading this narrative as I did when I read “Y no se lo tragó la tierra”; I wanted to reach out and help both books’ protagonists escape from the hard realities of life that they faced. Cleófilas, our female protagonist is off to marry the man she thought she had waited all her life for. However, she is unaware of the downward turn her life is about to take when her new husband becomes abusive, and unfaithful. She ends up wishing she could return home despite the “chores that never ended, [her] six good for nothing brothers and one old man’s complaints” …this is the same “old man” who, though foreseeing her future filled with hardship, sent her off with the words “I am your father I will never abandon you”. These words of her father just melted my heart, and made me want to jump right into the story to tell Cleófilas she was making a grave mistake…and that she should at least stay where she is loved. I hated reading how poorly she was treated in her marriage and I felt that it would better to be single and (in her case) at home where she is accepted and loved rather than to be married to someone who is unloving and abusive…Anyways, I appreciated this narrative a lot because it is so relative to today…the choices you make, especially important ones such as marriage, can have such a drastic effect on your future…

Reading this book for the second time has been great…and I’m excited to revisit the second half this next week.

Me encanto en sus descripciones en los primeros capitulos describiendo la experiencia de ser nino. Los analogias y similes estan tan chistosos, pero muy enluciendo y eficaz para dar significancia a sus frases. La voz de Cisneros cambia entre los tres secciones del libro (“My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn,” “One Holy Night,” y “There Was a Man, There Was a Woman”) de una voz de nina, a una voz de una joven, a la voz de una adulta.

La nina es depreocupada e inocente, ayudandonos a comprender la experiencia de ser una nina chicana, y contrastando con los realidades crudos que vemos en la proxima seccion en que una joven se embaraza con un hombre que desaparece despues de tomar su virginidad y despues de que ella se enamora con el. Un aborcion no es un opcion para ella. La rigidez y opresividad de su catolicismo se pone muy aparente en este seccion. Tambien, las analogias se pone mas negro en este seccion. Este es uno de mis favoritos: “There was a man, a crazy who lived upstairs from us when we lived on South Loomis. He couldn’t talk, just walked around all day with this harmonica in his mouth. Didn’t play it. Just sort of breathed through it, all day long, wheezing, in and out, in and out. This is how it is with me. Love I mean (35).”

Finalmente en la tercera seccion Cisneros nos muestra los partes de la vida mas sordidos. Los estigmas de casarse con alguien de un clase distinto: Mexicano, Chicano, Anglo, hispanohablante, anglohablante, pobre, rico; la depresion, el abuso, la sexualidad, la debilidad, el alcoholismo, pasiones violentas, cinicismo y romanticismo. Parece a mi que muchos de los caracteres adultos poseen un poco de nihilismo o desesperacion sobre su futuro.

Pero lo que me impresa mas del libro estan los tantos voces diferentes que crea Cisneros. La voz de la nina fue muy verosimil, obviamente mas articulado que una nina de verdad, pero los descripciones, pensamientos, y manera de construir frases fue verdaderamente como una nina.

Wow! What a change of style from the last few books we’ve read. I suppose style-wise it’s comparable to “Y no se lo trago la tierra” just because of the compilation of stories and what not, but clearly some different themes. So far, I’d say I’ve enjoyed it. Cisnero’s style of writing isn’t exacly by favourite, but I find her stories so real and believable. I definitely feel like, similar to Rivera, the way the book is written is a reflection on the way she lived her life.

The way the book is split up into sections makes it a bit easier to understand, although throughout the readings I wished I’d been able to link her to each situation, but with most I just made my guesses. Almost as if to say that I didn’t know what part she played in some of the stories she was writing. Some of the chapters most probably aren’t directly related to her, but likely stories she’s heard or read of.

I really like how her Chicana stories are so down to earth and just plain real. Although many shocking, she tells these stories from a very interesting point of view. She hates these men for everything they do to these women, but at the same time one may argue that she fuels some of these characteristics in men. I link her promiscuity directly to her critisisms. We learn a lot about her “rebel chicana” character, and her feelings towards her Mexican heritage, which still isn’t quite clear to me, but I’m sure we’ll have a full feeling by the end of the novel.

My favourite chapter/story was most probably the one about Tepeyac in D.F. I love the way she described in detail the Basilica de Guadalupe and it’s surroundings, from the vendors selling food in the streets to the anxious photographers taking photos of the Virgen. It’s so interesting to read about her feelings about how much had changed when she went back to Mexico City, but at the same time how things had remained the same. For instance, the women were still on Calle Cinco de Mayo frying lunch items, they were just different women. I feel like this part of the story gives us a feeling of her love (?) for her homeland, and the connection she still feels towards Mexico.

Overall, a very interesting read that definitely makes a personal connection with the reader.

EL libro de Woman Hollering Creek contiene cuentitos de diferentes mujers que nos da una imagen de la vida de las mujeres de diferentes edades. Se ve la vida de una niña hasta la vida de abuelitas. En el capítulo My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn, casí puedo oler el “corn”. Cisnero uas muchas metaforas y su lenguaje es muy dulce y poetcia, y pinta una imagen muy real.  Me recordaba de mi juentud, cuando juagaba con mis amigas, con las muñecas, haciendo tonterias en el público, una locura de energia. Nos encantaba los chucherias, chupachups, colores.

Me encanta el libro porque todo me parece muy real, y sé exactamento lo que Cisnero pretenda  decir. La historia de Rachel en el capítulo Eleven, casí me hizo llorar. Me sentía la verguenza que la niña senía totalmente. Una metáfora que me encantó en este capítulo es, ” I want today to be a far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it” (p9).

Creo que el capítulo Mericans es muy importante porque trata de temas como relegion y género y identidad. Quiza muestra como la generación mayor, como los abuelitos son más religiosos que los jovenes. Al la auela de pena qe ss niños y nietos no asistan la masa y reza por ellos. de manera que el niño narra este capítulo me daba risa,” I count the awful grandmother’s mustache hairs while she prays for Uncle Old”  (p19) y luego

” The awful grandmother knits the names of the dead and the living into one long prayer fringed with the grandchildren born in that barbaric country with its barabarian ways” (p 19) Me recuerda mucho. También es importante reconocer como la abuela ve el ” Barbaric land”

En el mismo capítulo, explica como los niños usan “Girl” como insulto entre ellos. Yo como una niña habîa experimentado esto muchas veces, y siempre me llenaba de rabia. Cisnero cuenta temas muy delicadas para las mujeres, el tema de la mujer siendo inferior, perder la verginidad…. y veo desde donde ella hierve.

El tema de identidad sale cuando se preguntan a los ninós si son americanos y los niños contestan “yeah”, “we’re Mericans”. Pues los se identifican como Americanos.

En el capítulo One holy Night vemos la relación con lo indigena y la raza. “I remember next is how the moon, the pale moon with its yellow eye, the moon of Tikal, and Tulum, and Chichén, stared through the pink plastic curtains. Hay mucha referencia a los dioses indigenas Mayas en este capítulo que de vuelta eleva el teme de identidad y pertenecer a la raza pura….

Me guesto esta cita, cuando la chica va hacia su caso después acostarse con el “Chaq”, y se pregunta “Did Ia look different? Could they tell?” (p 30) esto es muy real y creo que todas las chicas se preocupan de esto, o muchas chicas experimentan esta experiencia.

El tema de reputación es muy importante en el mundo Chicano,  se mueven a otras ciudades para salvar su buena reputación. Vemos esto en el caso de las mujeres que se embarazaban de joven, y se tenían que mover, por guardad la reputación de la familia.

Se debe prestar atención a estas citas, como cuando la chica se embaraza, dice ” I don’t think they understand how it is to be a girl”

, “already I can feel the animal inside me stirring in his own uneven sleep”.  Aquí llama al niño un animal. Que disgusto! La chica no quiere el niño.

La chica quiere nombrar el niño Alegre porque ” life will always be hard”, que bonito, pero a la vez m da pena.

Me estoy divertiendo leyendo el libro. Está muy bien narrado.

I feel like I’ve met Sandra Cisneros. That’s the kind of writer she is: reading her books is like reading an extension of her life. I start to wonder, “Did she actually have a friend named Lucy who smelled like corn? Did she hear that story from a friend? Was it all from her imagination?” And finally, I ask myself: “Does it matter?” The writing is just that good.

It was interesting how the book was sectioned into three stages of life: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. My favorite story from the childhood section has to be ‘Eleven’. I’ve actually taken to reading the first few paragraphs of this story to friends and family because I love it that much! As I read it to them, I notice small smiles appearing around the corners of their lips, and I know that this story is affecting them the same as it did me….it’s bringing them back. Yah, sometimes I feel like I’m three and sometimes I feel like I’m twenty-three, but it’s funny to think that I am every age in between. And it’s true that I don’t feel my age until about half way through that year. It really has to grow on you first, until you are almost the next year. The ideas of Cisneros blow me away…it’s stuff you don’t think about, but you know is true….like a Seinfeld show.

I was shocked by the stories in the short adolescent section. The ideas aren’t knew to me, but let’s just say I didn’t see them coming. The same with the adult section…I just wanted to reach into the book and shake some sense into these characters!!! What was interesting was that these protagonists are all chicanas, but their stories are so universal that you can apply them to anyone. Cisnero’s brings the experiences to life. To me, Lucy is real.

I’m curious about how this book affected the guys in our class. It is really harsh with some of its male stereotypes and it’s all for women making a better life for themselves (although it’s rare when the characters actually do!) Did you men in the class feel the same way that I felt about the book?

I love this book, I knew that I would love it, I’ve been excited to read it for a while now.

My favourite stories so far have been “My Lucy Friend who Smells Like Corn” and “Mericans”.

I especially liked the character of the awful grandmother in “Mericans”.
I found this story to say a lot about chicanos born in the United States to Mexican parents, growing up speaking spanglish, without a firm grasp on Spanish i.e “the awfulgrandmother says it all in Spanish, which I understand when I’m paying attention” (19), it was also funny when the woman outside the church was surprised to learn that the children spoke English. To me this represents the unique border identity of chicanos and their ability to be both Mexican and American at the same time.

Cisneros writes about “las tres madres de mexico” (a concept that is common in writing by Chicana women and that Gloria often wrote about)…Guadalupe, the virgin mother whhas not abandoned her people, la Malinche/Malintzin, the raped mother and mother of mestizaje, and la Llorona, la madre que grita y llora para sus hijos perdidos.

My favourite was this line: “La Virgen de Guadalupe on the main altar because she’s a big miracle, the crooked crucifix on a side altar because that’s a little miracle” (18), this really shows how much la virgen is revered in Mexico and how Jesus is important to the religion of the country but his presence is not as widespread and is not as characteristic of mexican culture.

La virgen de guadalupe es la “reina de mexico” y era un milagro mexicano, pero jesucristo es importante para todos los cristianos, la virgen es para los mexicanos.

Those who know me know that I am fascinated by the virgen de guadalupe and the symbolism and culture surrounding her veneration. So, the fact that cisneros refers to la virgen in her writing just makes me love her a little bit more.

She also talks about la Llorona in “Woman Hollering Creek”…”Perhaps la Llorona is the one they named the creek after, she thinks, remembering all the stories she learned as a child” (51). La Llorona, the wailing woman, is a very important figure in this story and in mexican folklore.

Lastly, Cisneros creates an image of la Malinche/Malintzin in the stoy “Never Marry a Mexican” in which the narrator takes on the role of la malinche, with Drew as Cortez.
La Malinche was given the nickname “la Chingada”, because as gloria says, she was the raped mother of mexico, an indigenous woman who gave birth to the first mestizo.

When I read this: “I was there first, always. I’ve always been there, in the mirror, under his skin, in the blood, before you were born” (76) it immediately made me think that the narrator, as la Malinche was talking about mexico, that her people had always been there, before the Spaniards and before the mestizos. That this story of a man cheating on his wife with her (la malinche/la chingada/la puta, the opposite of the pure virgen de guadalupe) to me symbolizes how mexico was taken advantage of and violated by the Spaniards. Maybe I’m way off, maybe you don’t agree…maybe I’ve read too much gloria anzaldua and see the virgen/puta dichotomy in everything…but that’s how I saw it when I read it.

Okay that’s it for now, can’t wait to read more of this book.