Born in a family of Mexican immigrants, Sandra Cisneros discovers her niche in the American literature by writing from her experience as an immigrant growing at the confluence of two cultures. Until her teenager years, Cisneros’ family moves back and forth from Chicago to Mexico, making her feel not integrated in either culture. As Robin Ganz declares, Cisneros “derived inspiration from her cultural specificity and found her voice in the dingy rooms of her house on Mango Street, on the cruel but comfortable streets of the barrio, and in the smooth and dangerous curves of borderland arroyos” (1). In her short story, “Woman Hollering Creek”, Cisneros describes the life of a Mexican woman, Cleofilas that marries a man from “el otro lado” in the
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Cleofilas, a name of a Mexican martyr, is the prototype of a woman suffering for love. According to the model she learnt from her ancestors and from the telenovelas, Cleofilas considers that a woman’s role is to love and to suffer for love. She lives her life as a married woman in isolation between her neighbors Dolores and Soledad, pain and loneliness, who suffer because of the loss of their husbands and sons by death or other circumstances. It seems like “the women on Woman Hollering Creek suffer much from their dealings with the men in their lives” (Short stories for students 393). Cleofilas and her two neighbors share the same belief that the only meaning a woman can have in life is through a man. In the absence of a man, or in the situation of an unhappy marriage, the only thing that remains to a woman is to suffer. On the other side, there are Graciela and Felice whose names mean grace and happiness. By being unmarried and earning their own money, Graciela and Felice represent the model of powerful women that are in control of their own life. Together they help Cleofilas escape not only from the abusive relationship, but also from her cultural limits. Cisneros personifies in her story two different prototypes of femininity: Dolores and Soledad, the suffering and submissive woman; Felice and Graciela, the powerful and independent woman. Cleofilas represents the dynamic character that …show more content…
From a historical perspective, the U.S.-Mexican border was changed after the war’s ending, placing Mexican people living on the border as “strangers in their own land” (short stories 389). Although a dangerous place, the border is also a space of fertility, where language and cultures take new meanings, “places where the fluidity of cultures allows new formulations and transformations to occur” (Short stories for students 88). Only by moving from the comfortable house of her father, where ideologies are not questioned, Cleofilas can discover a new way of imagining a woman’s life. It is on the borderline where Cleofilas meets Felice, a woman grown at the edge of two cultures that “has acquired a flexibility of mind which allows her to go back and forth across the gender border, from the Virgen to Tarzan” (Wyatt 164). Felice’s model of strength and independence fascinates Cleofilas, and determines her to review her own conceptions about women’s
Cleofilas, a name of a Mexican martyr, is the prototype of a woman suffering for love. According to the model she learnt from her ancestors and from the telenovelas, Cleofilas considers that a woman’s role is to love and to suffer for love. She lives her life as a married woman in isolation between her neighbors Dolores and Soledad, pain and loneliness, who suffer because of the loss of their husbands and sons by death or other circumstances. It seems like “the women on Woman Hollering Creek suffer much from their dealings with the men in their lives” (Short stories for students 393). Cleofilas and her two neighbors share the same belief that the only meaning a woman can have in life is through a man. In the absence of a man, or in the situation of an unhappy marriage, the only thing that remains to a woman is to suffer. On the other side, there are Graciela and Felice whose names mean grace and happiness. By being unmarried and earning their own money, Graciela and Felice represent the model of powerful women that are in control of their own life. Together they help Cleofilas escape not only from the abusive relationship, but also from her cultural limits. Cisneros personifies in her story two different prototypes of femininity: Dolores and Soledad, the suffering and submissive woman; Felice and Graciela, the powerful and independent woman. Cleofilas represents the dynamic character that …show more content…
From a historical perspective, the U.S.-Mexican border was changed after the war’s ending, placing Mexican people living on the border as “strangers in their own land” (short stories 389). Although a dangerous place, the border is also a space of fertility, where language and cultures take new meanings, “places where the fluidity of cultures allows new formulations and transformations to occur” (Short stories for students 88). Only by moving from the comfortable house of her father, where ideologies are not questioned, Cleofilas can discover a new way of imagining a woman’s life. It is on the borderline where Cleofilas meets Felice, a woman grown at the edge of two cultures that “has acquired a flexibility of mind which allows her to go back and forth across the gender border, from the Virgen to Tarzan” (Wyatt 164). Felice’s model of strength and independence fascinates Cleofilas, and determines her to review her own conceptions about women’s