Woman Hollering Creek

Several of the stories in Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros revolve around the theme of feminism and religion and their ability to create inner conflict. A few of the characters experience this inner conflict as a direct result of the societal pressures put on them by whom they live with, themselves, and beliefs, whether they’re their own, or someone else’s. While the whole book itself is a testament to female oppression and the way society perpetuates the oppression itself, there are a select few of the short stories that really focus on it. The rest only have undertones. In many of the stories, the oppression from the community around them causes inner conflict within the characters. The way Cisneros organizes the book exposes the ways
What a disgrace. What would the neighbors say” (50). This inner struggle lasted for most of the story and was very clear because it was from her point of view. Cleofilas did not want to experience the shame of going back to her old neighborhood and facing them, “coming home like that with a baby on her hip and one in the oven. Where’s your husband?”, but also did not want her child to grow up around an abusive father (50). She finally made her decision with some help from two women, one of them being Graciela, the nurse she went to who gave her a checkup on her pregnancy. The more obvious struggle was her inner hatred for the patriarchy. Going to one of her husband’s coworker’s house was uncomfortable for her, as he would make crude jokes about her attitude saying, “what she needs is…and made a gesture as if to yank a woman’s buttocks to his groin” (51). Said coworker was even rumored to have killed his wife when she attacked him with a mop. Although Cleofilas rejects the patriarchal home of her husband and that community, she still “returns to her father and her original bondage”