Introduction
In the book “Woman Hollering Creek”, Sandra Cisneros has exemplified the different feminist issues which are believed to have been experienced in life by her. She has written from her own experiences because in being a Mexican American she understands how Mexican women with traditional belief systems feel about the available options in an unhappy marriage. She has depicted how women under such circumstances reluctantly choose to cope with the unhappy circumstances. The main character, Cleofilas is able to gather enough courage in breaking free of her adversities only after she is motivated by her friend that women have to holler for their freedom instead of sobbing and wailing in self pity. The story reveals how Cleofilas is able to understand the concepts of life through her experiences.
Main body
A feminist perspective of literature implies that the piece of literature has to be analyzed regardless of gender issues in supporting the equality of women with men. Essentially a feminist perspective concerns with the economical, political and social equality of both sexes. It is known that the author of the book, “Woman Hollering Creek” is a woman, but not much difference would have been made to the presentation of the story if it would have been written by a man having a feminist perspective.
The story as narrated by Sandra Cisneros gives a vivid account of Cleofilas, a young woman who lives in a virtual dream world before her marriage. She loves watching tele novellas which makes her to believe that she too would live the life of the main actress in the tele novellas that she watches. The heroine of the story that she watches is shown as belonging to a poor family who works for a wealthy family whose smart and handsome son falls in love with her. In this context Sandra Cisneros writes, “Cleofilas thought her life would have to be like that, like a telenovela…” (p. 226).
The story begins with Don Serafin, the father of Cleofilas, allowing Juan Pedro Martinez Sanchez to marry Cleofilas. Juan indicates his desire to take Cleofilas to the US where he plans to live with her. But Don is aware that there will be a day when his daughter would revert back to him to be at home with her family. While Cleofilas in her new found excitement is leaving with Juan, her father tells her that he will never forget her, he gives her a loving hug, but she is too busy in her excitement to value his words. Only after Cleofilas becomes a mother does she realize and remember the meaning behind what her father wanted to convey to her. She ponders over the love between a man and a woman and realizes that it cannot always remain constant but the love of parents is always life long. She becomes particularly conscious in this regard when her husband Juan repeatedly fails to turn up during nights.
Cleofilas is the protagonist in the story which is centered on her life and on how she deals with herself in an abusive and broken marriage. Other females in the story do not play protagonist roles except the woman who helps her in escaping from her husband. The other women in the story play secondary roles and are depicted as being exploited by the men in their families. Obviously Cleofilas is depicted as a very young woman which is evident from the fact that she uses the word chores in describing her duties in the house. She also reveals that she would never return to her father’s house after she completes her wedding vows with Juan. Cisneros has written in this regard, “…dream of returning to the chores that never ended, six good-for-nothing brothers, and one old man’s complaint” (246). These lines also reveal the stereo type image of the Spanish household where, in the absence of a mother or a wife, the eldest female assumes the role of the leading lady. Inevitably Cleofilas has to take on more responsibility because she just cannot only be a sister or daughter.
The story moves further in revealing their life while they live in Texas. There is creek behind their home which is called Woman Hollering Creek but nobody seems to be aware about the reason behind the name. Cleofilas is much fascinated with this name but is unable to know of the history behind the name of the creek. A woman named Soledad stays next to her house but she does not reveal about what happened to her husband. Another woman named Dolores stays opposite and she is very sweet and kind with Cleofilas but spends most of her time grieving for her two sons who died in the war, and for her husband who died a little after hearing of his sons’ deaths.
Although the life as depicted in the telenovellas is full of “all kinds of hardship of the heart, separation and betrayal” (p. 220), Cleofilas comes to believe that it will eventually be full of love and enable a woman to survive life in getting the ultimate happiness at the end. When she gets married to Juan she has similar dreams for her life. It is for this reason that not much attention is paid by her to her father when he says, “I am your father, I will never abandon you.” (p. 119). She is under the impression that the loving bond between a man and a woman proves to me much stronger than the love between children and parents. She did not know that love does get sour between a man and a woman, but that a parent’s love for children always remains the same. In due course, Cleofilas realizes that the bond of love between a woman and man does get diminished particularly when both sides begin to hurt each other and do not make sincere efforts to maintain their loving relationship. Cleofilas realizes that men are rather selfish and that they do not treat their women with love and affection, and she wonders then as to why women should love them the way they do. Her conclusions are further strengthened in witnessing other examples within her close vicinity. The husband of her neighbor, Soledad, has deserted her and she is not aware of his whereabouts, while Maximiliano, who is her husband’s friend, has reportedly killed his wife in a brawl. She is herself perturbed about her husband repeatedly slapping her and making her mouth bleed, without knowing the reasons for such behavior. The constant pattern of bitterness filled experiences that she has to go through makes Cleofilas to realize that life after all is not filled with happiness as depicted in the telenovelas, and that they are all only dreams, “… now the episodes got sadder and sadder. And there were no commercials in between for comic relief. And no happy ending in sight.” (p. 226).
In understanding the events in this story one tends remember radical feminists who say that marriages are sources of gender inequality, in view of the happenings between women and their husbands. Radical feminists believe that once a marriage is solemnized, the husband begins to think of his wife as being his property which makes him free to deal with her in whatever manner that he desires. He can treat her in a loving or cruel way. The last part of the story is very interesting when Cleofilas makes a decision to leave her brutal husband after realizing of his cruelty in separating her from her family and her home country. He had shifted her to a new country where she had a language problem in being unable to speak English; she did not know anybody and was ill treated by him. He does not give her anything except babies and miseries. It is ultimately a woman who understands her plight and helps her to escape. The woman named Felice, takes Cleofilas with her to San Antonio which aptly proves to Cleofilas that it is not necessary for a woman to have a man to survive in life, “ … she didn’t have husband” (p. 228). Cleofilas understands very well that she can survive without being dependent on a man and that she is at liberty to do whatever she wants in becoming free from the oppressions she faced in her marriage. Cleofilas is happy that now she can do any thing she desires to the full contentment of her heart.