Women of Hollering Creek
Professor Barclay
ENG1002
12 October 2008
Literary Analysis Essay from Feminist Perspective
When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships. Cleofilas Engriqueta DeLeon Hernandez is the protagonist, the story is centered on her and how she handles life in a broken and abusive marriage. I get the impression that she is fairly young because Cisneros used the word chores to describe her duties around the house she would never return to after saying her vows to Juan Pedro Martinez Sanchez. Cisneros wrote, “…dream of returning to the chores that never ended, six good-for-nothing brothers, and one old man’s complaint” (246). This passage also shows a stereotype of some Spanish households without a wife or mother, the eldest female of the house has to assume that role. Cleofilas has to wear more than one hat; she can’t just be a daughter or sister. Cleofilas marries, who she thinks, is the man of her dreams, but early on we find out that she isn’t as happily married as we might have briefly
ENG1002
12 October 2008
Literary Analysis Essay from Feminist Perspective
When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships. Cleofilas Engriqueta DeLeon Hernandez is the protagonist, the story is centered on her and how she handles life in a broken and abusive marriage. I get the impression that she is fairly young because Cisneros used the word chores to describe her duties around the house she would never return to after saying her vows to Juan Pedro Martinez Sanchez. Cisneros wrote, “…dream of returning to the chores that never ended, six good-for-nothing brothers, and one old man’s complaint” (246). This passage also shows a stereotype of some Spanish households without a wife or mother, the eldest female of the house has to assume that role. Cleofilas has to wear more than one hat; she can’t just be a daughter or sister. Cleofilas marries, who she thinks, is the man of her dreams, but early on we find out that she isn’t as happily married as we might have briefly