Woman Hollering Creek and Other Short Stories - Book Report/Review Example

November 2006 Woman Hollering Creek and Other Short Stories: “Woman Hollering Creek” In Sandra Cisnero’s compilation of short stories, “Woman Hollering Creek” never fails to amuse and precisely capsulate the plight, not only of Mexican women, but as well as other conventional women all over the world. This short story is an embodiment of cultural biases and differences that plague the minority gender in every civilization, the women. And despite their cultural relevance in molding society’s standards, there are still a lot of women like Cleófilas who continues to wallow in domestic misery and theatrical façade in order to cover their true feelings and identity. Despite some act of defiance from most women, there are still a lot of cultures who practice the tradition of arranged marriage. As a trade-off, women sacrifice their personal feelings and emotions for the sake of pleasing their family and following what tradition dictates. Love is deeply compromised in an effort to bridge the gap between an aging custom and family pride and dignity. Cleófilas is no exception to this rule when she agreed to marry Juan Pedro, a man whom she hardly knew but nonetheless has a decent disposition. Just like most Latin, Asian, and European women, Cleófilas is also agog with telenovelas and soap operas as it acts as an outlet over one’s frustrations in real life. This imaginative imagery also serves as their emotional outlet and standard for the meaning of true love. Betrayal, acts of deceit, and broken heartedness are only a few of the events that are being taught in these telenovelas towards the conquest of true and eternal love. This had made Cleófilas believe and accept that love is not always perfect, and that to suffer for love is good; that a woman must sacrifice her freedom, endure physical abuse, and emotional battery – all in the name of love. Such connection, between true love and telenovelas, may sound absurd, but this is the reality for most women. Mexican women for one can attest to this, hence the powerful presence of soap operas that has continued to dominate television screens since time immemorial. All the pain, grief, shame, rage, and joy being portrayed in these “soaps” have made Cleófilas realize that “to suffer for love is good. The pain all sweet somehow. In the end…” (45). Before, she had always thought of fighting back if and when a man would strike her. But when this moment came, “he slapped her once, and then again, and again…but she didn’t fight back…as she imagined she might when she saw such things in the telenovelas” (47). The inability to react when her husband is abusing her is a sign of passiveness and shallowness, as the illusions portrayed by these soaps had made Cleófilas’ personality even weaker. The lack of a strong female presence during her growing up years has made her sought the presence of those female heroine she constantly watched on television. If Cleófilas had a constant strong female role model whom she could count on, the abuse, suffering, and pain that her husband had caused her would not have prolonged much longer. In the first place, she would have instantly noticed and assessed that their situation is no longer confounded in the very vows of marriage. Unlike the common situation among Mexican women, women in the United States are far well-protected, not only by their basic rights, but as well as from the policies and regulations being implemented by the government. Women are viewed as equals of men, hence explains why American women are so empowered by their rights. Gender sensitivity is being practiced at its maximum tolerance, allowing women entitled to the same treatment as that of men. From being able to vote, American women deserve the right to equal justice, labor laws, hold positions that mostly dominate the male population, and the like. Societal treatment for Mexican women is a far cry from the United States. Unfortunately, women’s roles and responsibilities are still limited within the boundaries of Mexico. Even today, women’s rights are being ignored by Latin American courts. Indeed, there have been efforts to expand the opportunities of women. But so far, it has only been limited to distinct members of Mexico’s society. Thus, Cleófilas is a typical example of a woman who has constantly struggled against the same type of alienation and victimization of her society and traditional standards. Cisnero’s use of parallelism of Cleófilas to the woman folklore La Llorona (The Wailing Woman) to describe a desperate woman, victim of man’s constant deception and lies, further ignites the anxiety of Mexican women in society in general. Described as a: …poor Argentine country girl who had the ill fortune of falling in love" with the son of her wealthy employer: "it was she who had to say No, no, we are not of the same class, and remind him it was not his place nor hers to fall in love, while all the while her heart was breaking, can you imagine (52). La Llarona constantly becomes an image of Cleófilas’ own life as the latter analyzes and erases the evidences of her husband’s infidelities: A doubt. Slender as a hair. A washed cup set back on the shelf wrong-side-up. Her lipstick, and body talc, and hairbrush all arranged in the bathroom a different way. No. Her imagination. The house the same as always. Nothing. (50) This act of denial reveals how Mexican women or conservative women in general struggle to accept the fact that there is nothing wrong with her family, particularly with her husband. Realization sets in when Cisneros retells the folklore into the eyes of Cleófilas, as she seemed likely to follow La Llarona’s tragic tale of drowning of her own child. Her motion of sitting by the creek preludes a tendency of drowning her own child as an act of desperation to the sadness and infidelity of her very own husband. And in her longingness, Cleófilas feels the urgent connection with La Llarona, as she hears La Llarona calling out to her (51). But unlike in the story of La Llarona, where the creek lured her to death, the stream that rushes in the spring: “because of the rains, a good-size alive thing, a thing with a voice all its own, all day and all night calling in its high, silver voice” (51) had somehow brought a “springlike renewal” onto Cleófilas. This likewise rewrites La Llarona’s fate, as Cisneros releases her to leave her unfaithful and abusive husband and to take her children away with her--to choose life instead of death and to cross the river instead of remaining eternally trapped on its banks. On the other hand, the author named Cleófilas’ two widowed neighbors, Dolores and Soledad, to suggest “pain” and “solitude” respectively, typical of what Mexican women has been long suffering from. Through this move, the imbalanced gender preference of Mexicans is further emphasized. Truly, Cleófilas is not alone in the fight against cultural outcast and freedom from pain and solitude. Many women have taken this road, and will continue doing so if these cultures and traditions continue to exist. Read More