The Other Side of the fence in Women Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros and The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie

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Recommended: Racism and sexism in children's literature

We have all been alienated, stereotyped, and felt the general loss of control at one point in our lives, weather you are black, native American, Hispanic, or white. Race, skin color or nationality does not matter. This is the reoccurring theme in both of the text, “Women Hollering Creek” and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven”. Women Hollering Creek is a story by Sandra Cisneros a noted Mexican novelist, poet, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1954). It is a story of a young Mexican girl Cleofilas, who with visions of grandeur leaves her family to marry a man she barely knows and begin a new life across the border in the United States. The second short story is by Sherman Alexie (b. 1966) who was born on a reservation to Native American parents. This story is about the struggles of a Native American man who tries to disprove the stereotypical view society has of Native Americans, and to fit into society outside of the reservation. In one way or another, both characters in these texts have experienced being singled out and made to feel as though they did not fit in.
Women Hollering Creek is a collection of several seemingly unconnected stories beginning with adolescence transitioning to the teenage years and ending with adulthood. While the two stories seem to have little in common, a closer examination shows there are many similarities as well as differences. “Women Hollering Creek” is a fictional story written using life experience relating to cultural differences while “The Lone Ranger...” is a narrative story written by a Native American about the challenges he faced during his own personal experience while trying to fit into another culture. As minorities, the main character of each story strives in an atte...

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...etely different in the stories, the feeling of isolation and detachment each of the characters had to cope with was remarkably similar. The stories demonstrate solid evidence that society needs to change the racist view they have towards minorities and their cultures. Reading these stories brings awareness to the reader, the importance of recognizing the need to be more accepting of others and their need to belong. The problems associated with these stories affect us all and as a society we collectively need to begin to change our attitudes towards minorities and their cultures.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” The Lone Ranger and
Tonto Fistfight in Heaven: Harper Perennial Press 1993. Print
Cisneros Sandra. “Women Hollering Creek.” Women Hollering Creek: And Other Stories.
New York: Vintage Books, March 1992. E-Book

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