Student Question
Write a cultural perspective literary analysis for "Woman Hollering Creek".
Quick answer:
The story "Woman Hollering Creek" by Sandra Cisneros explores cultural perspectives through the journey of Cleófilas. She transitions from her life in Mexico, marked by familial love but hardship, to an oppressive marriage in Texas, characterized by isolation and abuse. Cleófilas initially dreams of a romanticized life but encounters harsh realities. Her encounter with Felice, a bold and independent woman, inspires Cleófilas to seek empowerment and reclaim her identity, highlighting themes of cultural transition and female empowerment.
To analyze Sandra Cisneros's story "Woman Hollering Creek" through the lens of cultural perspectives, you will want to explore the culture Cleófilas leaves and the one she gets caught up in. You will also want to take a look at the culture Cleófilas longs to find. Let's examine each of these elements.
Cleófilas has grown up in Mexico with her father. She has, apparently, not had the easiest life at home. There are chores that ever end, “six good-for-nothing brothers,” and “one old man's complaints.” Yet her father does seem to love her. He tells her as she is leaving that he will never abandon her. He gives Juan Pedro permission to marry Cleófilas, but perhaps he does not truly realize the nature of the man to whom he has given his daughter. While she lives in this culture, Cleófilas doesn't like it. She dreams of something...
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better. She thinks she will find that with her new husband, whom she believes to be the love of her life.
But Cleófilas doesn't find something better after her marriage. She finds something much worse: isolation, abuse from her husband, gossip, unfaithfulness, and misery. In Seguin, Texas, she has no one and no hope. She finds solace only in the imaginary world of the soap operas and along the bank of La Gritona creek. Eventually, Cleófilas spends some time with two neighbor ladies, but even they cannot do much for her. She has no contact with her family back in Mexico. She is in a new culture that is killing her.
When Cleófilas becomes pregnant a second time, she begs Juan Pedro to let her go to the doctor to make sure the baby is all right. A nurse at the clinic notices that Cleófilas is covered with bruises, and she calls a friend to meet Cleófilas and take her to the bus so she can go back to her family in Mexico, to the culture she once wanted to leave and now desperately wants to return to. The friend, Felice, is like no other woman Cleófilas has met. Felice is confident and unafraid. She hollers and laughs and says shocking things, and Cleófilas thinks she is wonderful. Felice is a woman for herself. She is not married. She drives a pickup truck. She is the woman Cleófilas wishes to become, a new type of woman who is independent and strong.