Term Paper on "Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros"

Term Paper 5 pages (1491 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros

The work of Sandra Cisneros entitled: "Woman Hollering Creek" is a story of a woman named Cleofilas and is of the nature that "extends and revises" histories of women who have attempted to escape poverty or other life situations thorough marriage. This story is primarily related in the third-person omniscient narrative voice. This work was stated by Campbell in a New York Times Book Review to be of the nature in which Cisneros utilizes men's behavior as a catalyst that "...propels her women into a deep search within themselves for the love that men have failed to give them." (New York Times Book Review, nd)

This story is of a woman who having married to escaped finds herself sitting alone in the house of her husband in fear to even venture outside without express permission. In this book, Cisneros writes that Cleofilas looks "at the walls, at how neatly their comers meet, the linoleum roses on the floor, the ceiling smooth as wedding cake." This story is said to open "...a borderland space where old myths take on new resonance and new forms and where new stories are possible." (Doyle, 1996) Cleofilas is in search of a manner of expressing her personal story in combination of the untold stories of the females who have been silenced and who are: "...victims of male violence in the newspapers." (Doyle, 1996)

I. The CHARACTERS, the PLOT, and the THEME

Cisneros' work 'Woman Hollering Creek' begins as Juan Pedro Martinez Sanchez is granted permission by Don Serafin to marry Cleofilas, Don Serafin's only daughter. Don Serafin sees with the eyes of a father knowing that while Juan Pedro would be taking his daughter to the United States to live that someday Cleofilas would turn southward with longing to be at home with her family. Don Serafin tells Cleofilas prior to her leaving with her husband following the wedding that he is her father always and will never desert her however, Cleofilas is to busy to pay any attention to her father and does not recall her father's words until after she has become a parent herself. Upon recall of what her father said at her wedding, Cleofilas reflects upon how a man and woman's love is temporal, changing, and unsure but how the love of a parent for a child is never changing.

Juan Pedro and Cleofilas live in Texas after their marriage and running behind their house is a creek, which has been named 'Hollering Woman Creek' although no one can quite recall why this name was given the creek. Juan Pedro beats on Cleofilas and suffers the beatings silently. After the beatings, Juan Pedro cries and Cleofilas comforts him. The town that the two live in is desolate and Cleofilas is sure that another woman had been in her home while she was gone to the hospital giving birth to their first child and yet, she still does not verbalize this belief and stays silent.

II. CHANGES and REALIZATIONS

At the time that Cleofilas became pregnant with the second child between herself and Juan Pedro she tells him that she must go see the doctor and goes only after Juan Pedro extracts a promise from her that she will not reveal to the doctor where the bruises on her body came from and will instead claim a fall caused the bruises. The story shifts as the character of Graciela, an employee of Cleofilas doctor speaks on the phone and relates how she gave a sonogram to a woman who was not only bruised all over, but who was crying and speaks no English and moreover, has not been allowed by her husband to call or write her family.

The woman to whom Graciela spoke was the character Felice. Felice makes arrangements to pick up Cleofilas to give her a ride to the bus station and as the bridge over Hollering Woman creek is crossed, Felice lets out a wild yell. It is amazing to Cleofilas that the truck they ride in belongs to Felice who chose the truck and purchased the truck independent of a husband or father.

Cleofilas grew up innocently believing in love and passion at its very essence of purity and believes that it is noble to suffer for love and that this results in a sweet pain that is a worthy cost to pay for love. Because of her beliefs, Cleofilas is very vulnerable to her husband… READ MORE

How to Reference "Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Racial Ideology of Latinas as Evidenced in Discourse Analysis Literature Review

Racial ideology of Latinas / Lit. review

Racial Ideology of Latinas in Discourse Analysis

Racial Ideology of Latinas

Latina Discourse -- Fiction and Non-Fiction

In her book Borderlands: The New… read more

Literature Review 44 pages (11967 words) Sources: 30 Topic: Family / Dating / Marriage

---

Multiculturalism Am Lit Multiculturalism in American Literature Questionnaire

Multiculturalism Am Lit

Multiculturalism in American Literature

America has long considered itself a cultural "melting pot," drawing immigrants from all over the world to the freedoms and opportunities of the… read more

Questionnaire 2 pages (568 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>